


Here (at this place, with you)

by probably



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Love/Hate, M/M, Slow Build, Teacher Sasuke, but au team taka, emotions and shit, frenemies to friends to friends with benefits to THE REAL DEAL, im so sorry, or something like that, other characters too - Freeform, sasuke is just so stupid but i love him, team taka love, this is awful, what am i even doing honestly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-03-30 08:05:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3929242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probably/pseuds/probably
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So…” Karin began, tapping the tabletop nervously. Sasuke arched his eyebrow at her (because how dare she interrupt him), “Uhh, so I might’ve invited my cousin to join us tonight…andhejusttextedmeandwillbehereanyminute.” </p><p>or</p><p>the one where (team taka) are all friends who work at the same school and they get drinks together every week until one night where karin invites naruto out of familial pity and all hell breaks loose in sasuke's emotions/mindscape/hormones/life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It All Started..

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't know what this is or why this is 
> 
> but it is
> 
> so
> 
> (i'm not a writer and this is awful) ((pls be nice or just like ignore me)) (((im fragile))) ((((also titles are stupid))))

It was an early fall evening, and Sasuke Uchiha was out getting drinks with his friends; they all worked together at a local high school and became close due to their misfit demeanors. While Sasuke taught several literature courses, his friends were mostly in guidance or extracurriculars; Juugo was a gym teacher, calm but prone to outbursts at random, Suigetsu was a swim coach and a life guard, though he spent more time in the water than not, and Karin was a guidance counselor. 

None of them could remember when they became friends, or when they started this weekly ritual of capping off the week with drinks at the same bar for the past three years, but it was a thing and they were all content (for the most part.)

Tonight was no different from any other night. They were on their second round and Sasuke was in the middle of telling a story about some fucking idiot on a moped with the world’s stupidest helmet cutting him off in traffic. He was about to describe what the helmet looked like when Karin, who had been fiddling with her phone, cut him off.

“So…” Karin began, tapping the tabletop nervously. Sasuke arched his eyebrow at her (because how dare she interrupt him), “Uhh, so I might’ve invited my cousin to join us tonight…andhejusttextedmeandwillbehereanyminute.” 

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. “Karin, what the fuck! A little more notice would’ve been nice. What kind of weirdo should we be expecting?”

She grabbed at his hair and pulled him towards her. “Say that again you little shit! He’s eccentric, sure, but not a WEIRDO.”

Sasuke tsked. He could care less. If anything, he would just ignore the guy and quietly conversate with Juugo the rest of the night. 

Let Karin and Suigetsu deal with the guest.

“I am curious to meet him,” mused Juugo. “A new friend would be nice.”

Okay, Sasuke thought. Maybe he’d just have to simmer quietly by himself. 

“Anyway,” she continued. “His name is Naruto. He’s been through a lot this past year and needed a change in scenery. So I kinda pulled some strings and got him a job at the school with the new youth at risk program they’ve been trying to implement. Oops? He’s really optimistic though? So like…” 

“Ugh,” was all Sasuke said. 

“Great, so he IS gonna be annoying. As I fucking suspected.”

“I think it would be quite beneficial to have a brighter personality join the table.”

“It’s just for one night, please don’t embarrass me!” She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. “Or it’ll be your fucking heads.”

Honestly, Sasuke thought this would just be a one-time encounter. Karin’s cousin would come by, stay and chat for a bit, and then only ever been seen again in passing at the school. It would be fine. Whatever, right?

It’s not like he was going to dramatically change Sasuke’s life, as if Sasuke would allow someone to get that close in the first place…………..Especially when that person was the same guy who nearly caused him to crash into a tree after cutting him off on a moped.

The moment Naruto approached the table, his helmet bespeckled with ramen stickers tucked under his arm, Sasuke choked on his beer at the recognition. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks.

“YOU!” they both said at the same time, pointing fingers of accusation at each other.

“I ALMOST FUCKING CRASHED INTO A TREE BECAUSE OF YOU!”

“SHARE THE FUCKING ROAD YOU PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLE! IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!”

Sasuke sputtered. “I’M PRETENTIOUS?!” The other three could only look on in equal parts amazement and embarrassment at the spectacle. Sasuke typically kept a low-profile in public. “I’M NOT THE ONE. RIDING. A FUCKING. MOPED.”

They two stared at each other in a silent, but electric, face-off. Karin was beside herself in shock. Suigetsu could not stop laughing and Juugo was looking down into his beer glass, suddenly very interested in appreciating the finer details of his beverage. Like color. What a beautiful amber.

“I can’t fucking believe this. Thanks for the invite, but I think it’s best I leave before I get ACTUALLY ran over by this bastard. I’ll catch you later Karin.” Naruto glared and began to turn away. 

“What! No, Naruto, don’t! Sasuke’s just an asshole. Come on!” Karin protested, ignoring the dirty look Sasuke shot in her direction.

“No, it’s fine. Stay. I’M leaving. Just so I won’t have to worry about shitty moped drivers on the way home.” Sasuke sneered as he gathered his things, shoving past the blond. He left the bar prickling with irritation. He lit a cigarette, fumbling with the lighter, as soon as he got outside. That moment in traffic had left him shaking in anxiety and panic and to see the culprit made his blood boil almost instantly. There was very little that caused Sasuke to lose his composure; reckless driving was one of them. And also for some reason, there was just something about Karin’s cousin that sent shivers down his spine and made him react with more venom than usual. 

He was easily the most attractive person he’d seen in a LONG time. It just wasn’t fair! And of course in hindsight he really over-reacted but what was he gonna do, go back and apologize? 

No matter HOW gorgeous the guy was, he still had his pride (it was literally all he had left.)

So he threw his cigarette on the ground and crushed it beneath his foot. And on his way home, he absolutely for sure Did Not think about Naruto.


	2. Enter: Itachi!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in typical fashion, sasuke doesn't know how to deal with dumb crushes so he schemes
> 
> suigetsu, juugo, and karin look on in embarrassment
> 
> naruto still feels bad about being a terrible motorist but is optimistic of this prospective friendship 
> 
> itachi just wants to do good in the world (while also lowkey tormenting his precious brother any chance he gets)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT am i doing

“Listen, listen, listen—“

“How many times must I repeat myself?”

“Come on, just hear me ou—“

“No.”

“But it’ll be so good! Think about the children!”

Sasuke whirled around and slammed his hands on his desk (he always had a flair for dramatics.) “Karin. Naruto Uzumaki is not allowed in any of my classrooms. I don’t care what type of extra curricular program he is trying to coordinate. He’s a dunce and just…” he gesticulated wildly in the air. “…just awful!”

“You met him for like five minutes.”

“That’s all I fucking needed! Plus, I’ve seen him around school and he—he just—he smells weird!” More like smells AMAZING, but Karin didn’t need to know that.

The red head sighed loudly in exasperation. She couldn’t believe the way that first Friday night blew up in her face. With the way Sasuke tolerates Suigetsu, she had hoenstly thought he and her cousin would get along at least somewhat decently. Pinching the bridge of her nose in anticipation of the ensuing headache, she quietly spoke. “Well, you don’t really have a choice. Kakashi insists on allowing him to speak briefly about his out reach program to all freshman classes in the coming weeks and yours happens to be tommorrow. Sorry, asshole, you can’t say no to the principal.”

(She got him there but that didn’t stop him from muttering a snarky “Watch me” under his breath.)  
And that was how Sasuke found himself angrily explaining to his homeroom class the next morning that they were to be expecting a special guest in the next few minutes. As if on cue, the door opened a crack, Naruto peeking in nervously. He had been told by Karin already that this particular class was one of Sasuke’s, and he hadn’t spoken to the man since their initial first meeting (which was horrific.) Needless to say, he was not too keen on entering considering the deadly aura currently emitting from the Uchiha.

“You may come in, they won’t bite” he said, rolling his eyes at Naruto’s hesitance.

A student chimed in from the back. “Sensei might though, haaaaah!”

Naruto whipped his head at the student incredulously, blushing at the implication and the fact that he and Sasuke had literally had a shouting match seconds after meeting (also, he was really attractive but that’s neither here nor there, but also like he was kind of into biting so there was that image he didn’t really want at the moment.) 

All he could muster in response was sputter, “..Uh, heh, uh…yeah I’m sure he does.”

Sasuke stared at Naruto’s increasingly reddening complexion and rolled his eyes. What an idiot. “Class, as I mentioned this is our special guest Naruto…” he paused.

“Uzumaki!” Naruto helpfully supplied under his breath. Also, very rude that he didn’t remember his name! He was Karin’s cousin for fuck’s sake.

“…Uzumaki. He is new here and is doing a thing that he could probably explain to you better than I can. Mostly because I didn’t care enough to find out.” He turned to the blond who was scowling at Sasuke’s awful introduction. “They’re all yours.”

As Naruto cleared his throat to better introduce himself and begin speaking his piece (whatever it was,) Sasuke turned to the pile of summer papers he was in the middle of grading for one of his literature classes. They were all really bland and half-baked so it took all of his will power just to get through two a day, which he had made his daily goal after trying to do them all in one night (and promptly gave up after realizing how bad they were.)

In the middle of reading the second page of the first paper, his mind began to wander and he began to focus on Naruto’s small presentation.

“…grew up as an orphan and I didn’t have much or many people who supported me. I was a really bad kid from the start and got into some bad things, but what saved me was getting this mentor who helped open my eyes to all these things I could be and do and see. He also gave me access to opportunities I would have otherwise never knew existed. Anyway, so what ended up happening was I realized I wanted to be to other kids what he was to me. So like, long story short, I studied yadda yadda -- you all know the drill -- and started a youth outreach program in my old town and now I’m here doing the same thing.”

By that time Sasuke was listening intently at the blond. Very much not what he was expecting, if he was being honest. He had thought Naruto was just starting some dumb aftershool club that would take away from his students’ homework time. Naruto shuffled some papers in his hands and began passing them to everyone in the class, some students immedietely putting them in their folders, to be forgotten for the rest of eternity, and others keeping them on their desks, discreetly reading over the print.

“So, these are all for you. I’m not going to ask right now who might be interested because believe me, I know how embarrassing and weird that is, especially given the nature of the program. But, this is just an overview of what it entails. It’s not like an extra-curricular and not really school affiliated, it’s a community thing, but my office is in the school for easy access. All of my relevent contact information is on there, so if you feel this is something you’re interested in, let me know. I’d like to consider my office a safe space so please feel free to use me as a resource.” 

He made the ‘call-me’ hand sign, laughing nervously as the students blinked silently at him. He was about to thank the class and excuse himself when a student in the back, one of the loudmouths in the class, threw a paper ball in Naruto’s direction. “Laaaaame.”

Sasuke took a deep breath and clenched his fist, reluctant to stand up for Naruto but also equally annoyed by the student’s loud mouth. “Konohamaru! Be. Respectful!”

Naruto was stunned for a second, not expecting the flying object to come at him like that (most of his other presentations just ended with awkward silences, although he had already gotten a couple emails from students.) He laughed it off though, picking up the wadded paper and throwing it in the trash. “Well, I’ll take that as my cue to leave, but...Konohamaru, right? I really would like to get in touch. I think I knew your grandfather.”

Konohamaru made a face, uncomfortable that he had been singled out. He glowered and pointed at Naruto’s receding figure. “PERVERT!”

They could all hear him chuckling to himself as he left.

As the door closed, the volume in the room began to rise with all the different conversations going on amongst the students, Sasuke slammed his fist on the table, creating a noise loud enough to stun everyone into silence. “Class! Talk quietly or don’t talk at all!”

That shut them up. He nodded his head to himself with satisfaction. Bringing his hands up to rest his chin on, Sasuke stared absentmindedly at the papers in front of him. Naruto was interesting…

He was still annoying, and he still wanted to wring his neck for almost causing him a heart attack and probably a huge increase in his car insurance rates and also more money to be spent on car damages and with the heart attack definitely he would have to pay medical bills…

Ok so basically he was pissed over the hypotheticals but still. 

The bell rang but Sasuke stayed seated, mumbling a goodbye here and there to his students. He tapped his pencil on the desk. He really wanted to find out more about Naruto.

-

“Wait, so why don’t you just like…talk to him?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, cupping the tea to his face and inhaling the steam. “That’s ridiculous, why would I do that? I fucking hate the guy!”

Suigetsu snorted in disbelief. 

“I think perhaps your interest in his work kind of goes against you ‘hating him’,” Juugo stated. 

“That’s not the point. I’m just saying maybe my irritation got the best of me and he’s not a total idiot after all!”

“Oh…Oh-ho-ho, so now you’re interested in him! 

Sasuke set his cup down on the table loudly. “I am going to break your fucking legs.”

“I have never seen you so worked up like this. Does Naruto really bother you this much?”

The dark haired man turned to Juugo, “Yes, for some reason, he does. But I want to tell Itachi about his program because I think he’d be interested in it, so that’s why I was asking.”

Suigetsu crossed his arms, surveying his friend. “Yeah, ok, hiding behind Itachi again, I guess. Just admit he interests you enough to actually be friends with him.”

He would never. He’d rather die than give up his pride like that. 

“If you guys aren’t going to be helpful, I’m leaving.” He pushed out his chair and gathered his things, leaving the staff break room with a dark cloud hanging over his head and a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Suigetsu and Juugo shared a look. “I think our little Sasuke might have a bit of a crush.”

Juugo glanced at the door. “I wouldn’t say it’s much of a crush yet…but either way, he doesn’t seem to be handling it too well.”

“Does the fucker handle anything well?”

“True.”

-

Naruto eased into a parking space, pulling his helmet off his head, shaking his unruly blond hair out. From the corner of his eye he saw someone move in the car next to him. Turning his head, he realized it was Sasuke, tying a tie around his neck and checking his hair in the mirror. As shifted in the car, his head turned so that he was facing directly at the staring Naruto. Immedietly he froze, mid-hair ruffle, and glared. 

Taken aback, Naruto smiled nervously, waving hello. Sasuke’s facial expression didn’t change as he got out of his car, shrugged his blazer on, and grabbed his messenger bag. “Surprised you managed to park without ramming into my car,” he stated, breezing by the blond towards the school.

Naruto hurredly grabbed his bag and tucked the helmet under his arm, running after Sasuke. “Woah, that’s rude. No good morning? No wave back?”

Sasuke glanced behind him, quickening his stride.

“Come on! I’m sorry I blew up at you, I just get really sensitive when people comment on my moped.”

The Uchiha thought back to his conversation with Suigetsu and Juugo, and to his growing interest in the blond’s community program. Now was probably the most serendipitous moment he would ever get without having to personally seek out the blond in the school buidling. He stopped directly at the foot of the stairs leading up into the school and placed his bag on a cement post.

“Actually, I would like to speak with you about your work.”

Knitting his eyebrows together, Naruto leaned on the post. “You mean you need a mentor?” Also, did Sasuke just outright ignore his apology?

Sasuke rolled his eyes, slapping his forehead. “No you idiot. As in, I want to know how someone could get involved? I know a guy who might be of interest to you.” He turned his head away, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. 

Naruto’s eyes widened. He had been filled to full capacity with work. He was currently wearing all the hats in his program, and so was more than ready for any outside help he could get. “Really?! Oh my God, send them my way! Here, let me give you my email…” He got out a scrap receipt from his bag and scrawled his contact information, pausing briefly before writing a little more “I uh, gave you my number too, just in case. It might be a more reliable way to contact me, you know...”

He handed the paper to Sasuke, who gave it a cursory glance before putting it in his wallet. “I understand how phones work. Anyway, I’m sure my person will be in contact with you soon…he’s always looking for shit like this, so…

The two men awkwardly stood in silence, each regarding the other. On one end, Naruto was pleased that Sasuke approached him on the subject, which meant he probably didn’t hate him too much. Maybe his bad driving just triggered some awful memory and it just got them off to a bad start? 

On the other, Sasuke was completely regretting speaking to the blond, his pride was hurting, and Itachi probably would’ve found his way to Naruto’s new program without Sasuke’s help anyway. If anything, handing off the contact information to his brother would only cause suspicion (because while he loves his brother, Itachi knows Sasuke better than Sasuke knows himself, and honestly he’s not ready, nor ever will be, for any of Itachi’s unsolicited dissertations on the reasons behind every little thing he does.)

It’s definitely a weird coping mechanism Itachi developed for being an absentee sibling (in a mostly cold household) for much of Sasuke’s difficult adolescence and angst-ridden years (the cause of being Itachi’s absence, as Itachi would regretfully point out over a bowl of noodles. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and slurped loudly to end the conversation.)

At any rate, Sasuke decided then and there that he definitely wouldn’t actually send any contact information to his brother because he’s probably already in the process of emailing Naruto anyway and the timing would work out and no one goes through his wallet so it wouldn’t be a big deal to keep the email and phone number either way, right? 

The bell for classes to start rang loudly, promptly ending their conversation (or lack of) as a mass of students loitering in the front of the school began piling into the building. The two men walked next to each other towards their respective rooms with their hands in their pockets. 

Sasuke walked into his classroom, setting his bag onto his desk, he reached into his wallet and took out the paper with Naruto’s number and email on it, flattening it out to see the chicken scratch on it a little more clearly. He took out his phone and opened up his contacts list. After a few moments of deliberation, he saved the number in his phone. It would probably come in handy someday, he reasoned with himself. This had absolutely nothing to do with Sasuke’s growing intrigue with the blond. It’s all for Itachi, because what if Itachi’s computer broke and couldn’t reach Naruto but already knew about his program or whatever the fuck it was and needed to contact him? 

Sasuke would casually just, “Brother, I got you.”

And Itachi would look up at him, none the wiser and no questions asked, “Little brother, you are a life saver.”

And just for clarification, Sasuke would add, “We work in the same building.”

The final bell broke Sasuke out of his reverie, looking up at his class, who were all patiently awaiting his instruction. Hm.

Across the building, Naruto quietly sat in his office, biting his nails and hoping to every god that ever existed that putting his number down on the paper didn’t weird Sasuke out.

\--

It had been several weeks until Naruto heard from Sasuke’s ‘friend.’ By then the two had forged a seemingly okay friendship, sharing small talk whenever they were in the lounge at the same time. It was all surface stuff though, neither had really opened up any deep conversations. It just wasn’t the time or place. 

It was one morning that he was checking his emails and an unfamiliar address showed up at the top of his inbox.

“Hm…Itachi Uchiha…Uchiha sounds familiar…” He opened up the message:

_‘From: Itachi Uchiha  
Subject: Hello_

_Uzumaki-san,_

_It’s come to my attention that you are currently coordinating a youth at risk community program out of my little brother’s school. His name is Sasuke, I’m sure you have heard of him considering you are related to a colleague of his._

_I just wanted to let you know I am interested in helping you succeed with your project. I am a man of many resources and the success of urban youth is important to me, as I am sure it is to you. Let me know what you need._

_Best,  
Itachi’_

Naruto snickered and then realization dawned on him. This must’ve been the guy Sasuke was referring to! 

He began typing out a response:

_‘Itachi-san,_

_Your brother actually approached me a couple weeks ago about getting contact information for someone he thought would be interested in helping out. I’m glad you decide to reach out. Anyway, I’d love your help. I managed to get a similar program off the ground in my hometown but not without the support and generosity of my closest friends, so it’s nice to find similar resources in this new place, even though you’re just a stranger. You already seem nicer than Sasuke so that’s a plus._

_Look forward to hearing from you, and please, call me Naruto,  
Naruto’_

He bit his nail, swinging around in his chair. He wasn’t expecting a prompt response, but there it was, that little ping. 

_‘Naruto,_

_Interesting. I found your contact information through my own research of your previous program. I am quite familiar and was pleased you were starting one here. My brother had nothing to do with this._

_What a coincidence._

_Also: you may call me Itachi as well.  
_

He stopped cold, rereading Itachi’s last email. What a coincidence. 

For some reason, he couldn’t help but feel like he had just shared a little too much information. 

\--

Students studying quietly in a classroom all jumped up at a tiny buzz coming from Sasuke’s desk. He looked up, confused as to who might’ve texted him during his known working hours. Giving his apologies to his students, he silenced his phone, but not before looking at the message.

‘Tell me about Naruto Uzumaki, my little brother.’

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway there it is, there is chapter two, thats it
> 
> ps, im really enjoying gaiden rite now and like sarada is BAMF and sasuke is just still so stupid i love it. like hokage naruto is rly mature emotionally and intellectually and his techniques have grown and sasuke is still like 'hn my sword..sharingaN!' 
> 
> pps, sasuke has always been and always will be my problematic fav please dont take my first ps the wrong way


	3. suigetsu briefly gives advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> itachi and naruto meet and become great friends but what about sasuke ? ?
> 
> ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is antyhing
> 
> im sorry for butchering these characters i try my best

Sasuke glared over the steam of his coffee. His brother had dropped in most uninvited after his first class ended and he had two whole hours to kill (which he’d rather be grading or smoking a cigarette or leaving the country…anything really after the developments of the other morning.) Itachi smiled pleasantly. “Sasuke, stop with the attitude. What? You’re brother can’t say hello? If it’s any consolation, I’m waiting for Naruto to free up, so I thought I’d drop by to kill some time…”

“Can you please get a hobby?!” he asked, exasperated beyond belief.

Itachi’s eyebrow quirked. “Funny that you mention Naruto, actually.”

“What?! You’re the one who mentioned him! I don’t want to hear a word about that idiot!”

“I just wanted you to know how grateful I am when you let me know about Naruto-kun’s program…several weeks ago. I never would’ve found out about it otherwise, so. Thanks.” Itachi inched closer to his brother’s face, a conniving smile slowly forming, relishing in the color rising on Sasuke’s cheeks. Oh, how he missed this. He hadn’t had a solid opportunity to meddle in his little brother’s life lately; the boy had been single for ages and his only social contact were his weekly bar meetups with Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo…and crashing those gatherings got old really quickly. 

Sasuke ran his hands across his bangs, brushing them to the side because his hair was just too damn thick to run his fingers through (he inwardly cursed, thanks for nothing Uncle Madara.) “Enough! Naruto and I are aquaintances at best and I was trying to do something nice for you, but you beat me to it! Now stop trying to pretend I had some ulterior motive and fuck off!” He turned away, his arms crossed, and pouted, an expression only ever seen by Sasuke’s mother and Itachi.

“You’ve never done a nice thing for me in your life, little brother,” Itachi got up and towered over his sibling, flicking him in the forehead. “As if I would ever be convinced that you would start now. Either way, you’ll be seeing more of me in the near future. Naruto actually has something going for him that I personally am interested in. Your aquaintance is just a little extra bonus for me.”

Sasuke sighed as he heard the door shut quietly behind Itachi, who was definitely making his way over to the blond right now. He placed his hands under his chin, deliberating on the pros and cons of commiting fratricide. Was there a way to cover his tracks? He could easily frame Suigetsu or something…maybe a drowning?

And it wasn’t like he was actually going to communicate with Naruto. They were barely aquaintances. He just had the number for safe keeping…just in case of…something.

“Arrgh!!!” He lay his forehead on his desk, groaning because he didn’t understand why he was getting so worked up over Karin’s cousin, anyhow. He decided the best way to distract himself from these disturbing musings was to do actual work (and kill Itachi later). He took out a random folder from his bag: personal responses from the other week that his contemporary literature students had been pestering him about. Might as well get on with it.

Back in Naruto’s office, the blond was typing away, responding to a certain Konohamaru who had taken a shine to the Uzumaki. His tongue stuck out in concentration as he attempted to word things just so. He didn’t even register the soft knock on his door, or the creak of it opening, or the stunning dark haired man entering, or even him sitting himself down.

“Ahem.”

Type type type. “Nah, that sounds lame…” Type type type.

Itachi cleared his throat louder. “AHEM” 

Naruto jumped, startled at the sudden noise. “What the fu—Sasu..keh?“ His eyes widened, taking in the presence before him, nearly identical to the dark haired man currently reading and rereading papers to no avail on the other side of the building. The only differences were the deep bags beneath his eyes and his long hair set in a low ponytail. The man gave him a wry smile.

“I’m afraid you have me mistaken for my brother,” he began, inspecting his painted fingernails. Naruto gawked. This was the Itachi he had exchanged emails with? 

“Hey! In my defense,” he said, getting up and reaching over to shake Itachi’s hand. “you look just like him. Besides the hair. His is doing…something else”

Itachi snorted, with a grace and couth that only the Uchiha could possess. “That hair has been a life long battle for him. I think it suits him, especially considering how much a perfectionist he is. It’s always amusing to see how upset he can get over it.” 

Naruto laughed, he was afraid the cold bastard was one of those Type-A perfectionists, but was relieved that he couldn’t seem to escape the fate of his hair being better suited as a bird’s nest than actual hair. Which meant he probably wasn’t as much of an asshole as he pretended to be. “Perfect.”

“Truly.” Itachi sighs, already taking a liking to the relaxed yet hardworking blond, seemingly a perfect foil to his uptight, overwound little brother. “I really would like to discuss in earnest the future of our collaborations, though. Please, walk me through your plans.” 

The two ended up spending the rest of the day in the office, their conversations dominated mostly by the ins and outs of Naruto’s program, speckled inbetween with casual discussions about everything from ramen, to choice alcoholic beverages, and also Itachi’s candid memories of a teenage Sasuke. 

The final bell rang and both Itachi and Naruto glanced up at the clock in surprise. 

“Holy shit! Itachi, we actually talked the day away! And here I was nervous that you’d be just as rude as your brother.”

Itachi smiled.“We did seem to hit it off. And I wouldn’t worry too much about little Sasuke. He’s always puffing up his feathers, but let me assure you, it’s mostly just a ruse. He’s actually very, very sensitive.” The older Uchiha began gathering his things, clicking the door behind him softly as he bid the blond goodbye. 

Naruto sat with Itachi’s parting words, trying to imagine a sensitive and empathetic Sasuke, but failing miserably. “Hmph,” he shrugged. 

Itachi made his way over to Sasuke’s classroom, hoping to catch his younger brother before he left the school. He sighed, seeing the door was closed as he approached the room, but peering through the window, he saw Sasuke was still inside, speaking to Juugo.

He ducked a little, pressing his ear up to the crack in an attempt to eavesdrop. Neither Juugo’s or his brother’s voice didn’t tended to project, but it couldn’t hurt to try. 

“Ugh, nothing,” he whispered to himself. Were they communicating in sign language or something?

He peeked again, this time seeing Sasuke sigh, his eyes downcast as he began packing his things. Juugo stood up first, putting his hand comfortingly on Sasuke’s shoulder. Itachi narrowed his eyes in concern, wondering what could have caused such a mood to take hold of his younger brother in less than a day.

Seeing the two men turn towards the door, he ducked to the side quickly and a little down the hall, pretending like he was just reaching Sasuke’s class as the door opened. His brother looked up, shocked to see Itachi’s face stretched into a glowing smile, waving jovially as he approached the two teachers, Juugo returning the gesture before excusing himself to leave the school. 

“Looks like I made it just in time, little brother! Please, come back to my place and share a meal with me!” 

Sasuke looked down at his shoes, scuffing them awkwardly on the floor as he hitched his messenger bag, adjusting the strap on his shoulder, feeling as if he were a kid again, overshadowed by his charismatic and charming older brother. “Nah, thanks for the offer, but I’m swamped with wor--”

Sasuke’s reply was interrupted by Itachi’s phone ringing. Furrowing his eyesbrows, he picked it up, mouthing a sorry to his younger brother. “Naruto? What’s up? Yeah, I’m still here, why?”

Hearing who the caller was, Sasuke rolled his eyes and grimaced. It was only about thirty minutes ago that Juugo came into his class to tell Sasuke that he saw Naruto and Itachi seeming overly friendly as he walked past Naruto’s office earlier that day. Sasuke feigned indifference, but it still stung. He had just worked up the confidence to reach out to Naruto, after consulting with Suigetsu (he really needed new friends) over a smoke break.

“Everytime I see him I get this weird feeling in my stomach, like I’m about to have a panic attack. It’s enough to make me want to gut him.”

“Okay, first of all, that’s fucked up. Second, I think what you’re speaking of is generally referred to as butterflies and really, get over it, you like him. He’s the first person to not bore you death, obviously you’re interested. Which is kind of…your standards are pretty fucking low if that’s all that gets you going.”

“Hn. He’s also…you know.” Sasuke took a drag from his cigarette. “Really fucking gorgeous.” 

Suigetsu rolled his eyes, throwing his cigarette onto the ground and putting it out with his foot. “Dude, literally just fucking text him. Or call him. Or send a carrier hawk, I don’t know! He gave you his info, just use it. Like a normal person.”

Sasuke stared off into the distance, flipping his phone over in his hands. 

Unsurprisingly, his brother had to swoop in and snatch him before he could do anything. The cosmos couldn’t even give him a full day to try. He turned to walk away, but stopped when he heard footsteps approach from behind.

“Hey!” Naruto yelled. Sasuke whirled around at the voice, and glared at his brother, who waved. He was starting to really get peeved at Itachi. As Naruto got closer, Sasuke saw that he was holding a blazer—Itachi’s blazer, to be exact. “So glad I could catch you before you left! You left this in my office.” He handed the jacket to Itachi, and then turned to Sasuke, cheeks flushed and a little breathless from running all the way from the other side of the building. “Hey Sasuke!”

Sasuke stared to the side, scratching the back of his neck as he muttered, “Hey.”

“We were just heading out,” Itachi said after a beat of silence. “Walk with us.”

“Yeah! I’m parked next to Sasuke, anyway,” responded Naruto.

“Oh?” The older Uchiha glanced at Sasuke, who was staring straight ahead, giving no indication of paying attention to the conversation.

Sasuke was pissed. It wasn’t his fault he was less than stellar at letting people in, or making great first impressions. It was only in college when he came to terms he was never going to live up to his brother’s shining achievements, even though Itachi did involve himself in somewhat illegal activities for a bit during his teens. It wasn’t like that phased his parents much because they welcomed him home with open arms after running away for several years to live with their sociopathic Uncle Madara. 

It sucked to be so personally reminded how badly he fell short in comparison to Itachi. He glanced at the two walking beside him, laughing about whatever, and shoved his hands further in his pockets. 

“All right, this is me.” Sasuke glanced up and saw they were at their parking spaces. Naruto slipped on his helmet and clipped it on, grinning at the two brothers. “It was nice meeting you Itachi!” He turned to Sasuke, his sunny smile replaced with a frown, though Sasuke swore he saw some glimmer of humor in his blue eyes. “See you around, asshole.” 

He held his hand up in a stiff wave as Naruto sped off on his moped, momentarily getting caught in some brush before reorienting himself into the correct trajectory. God he was a terrible driver. He turned to his brother.“You can leave now.”

“Little brother, unfortunately, I took the bus to the school this morning, and don’t seem to have any more for the fare,” he pulled out his empty pockets.

“I can give you—“

“Nonsense. I don’t take handouts.”

Before Sasuke could protest further, Itachi had already rounded the car and made himself comfortable on the passenger side, patting the driver’s seat invitingly.

They drove in silence, the radio softly playing in the background. Sasuke could feel Itachi’s eyes on him, but he kept his face forward. Partially to make a point that he didn’t want to talk to his brother, but also because safety. Of course.

“Is something bothering you, Sasuke?” Itachi finally broke the silence, narrowing his eyes at his brother to glean any indication of a mood shift at his question.

Sasuke tsked. “Yeah, you.”

Itachi frowned. “It’s stupid so please don’t ask me about it anymore,” Sasuke said, before Itachi could question him further. “Am I dropping you off at your place or are we having dinner?” he asked after a beat of silence.

Itachi took a moment to consider. He looked at Sasuke. “Aren’t you swamped with work?” 

Sasuke closed his eyes, completely forgetting his bullshit excuse for turning down Itachi’s offer earlier. He had been so caught up in not having a completely melodramatic meltdown over how his brother stole Naruto away from him (even though he knew the guy for like, mere weeks longer than Itachi? And they weren’t even on proper speaking terms.) “Fuck,” he mumbled to himself. “You got me. I choose the food, though.”

Itachi smiled to himself, his hands clasped politely in his lap. He’d get Sasuke to open up and air out his frustrations one way or another. As Sasuke backed into a parking space in front of his building, Itachi was already scheming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really sorry 
> 
> this is not even C+ material
> 
> i am not a writer


	4. shisui is dead but his spirit lives on in a ceramic dish (OR, the dinner)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> itachi does a thing typical of conniving older brothers and there is a group dinner/ chaos ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive been hesitant about introducing other characters, mostly cause writing all those personalities is so daunting but im sloooowly trying !!! 
> 
> in this installment we will b graced with a sliver of sakura who will 97% make more appearances in the future. i have mental plans for the other konoha gems but right for now....here we r and here we will stay

Naruto flopped onto his sofa, broken in and cushiony in all the right places. He didn’t want to think about all the things that have happened on this particular piece of furniture, considering he had picked it up off the side of the street while moving in. Sakura, one of his best friends from back home and a doctor, which she loved repeating over and over again, had been helping out and gave him an earful. Because she was a doctor, who knew things, and "Okay, I GET IT, Sakura. Enough!"

But, he hasn’t had any unexplainable rashes, bites, or itches yet, so he would assume he’s in the clear. Still, just thinking about the sofa’s history made him shudder. 

He glanced at his phone, wondering what to do on a Thursday night, with tomorrow being an administrative day. He didn’t have any friends just yet, save for Karin, who was his relative and technically didn’t count. He got along with her weirdo friends okay, but they were a bit much. All they did was fight amongst each other, which got tiring. His eyes perked up as he thought about Itachi. Itachi seemed nice. They spent the whole day talking and getting to know one another. And they were planning on collaborating with Naruto’s project anyway, so they were bound to become close. And with Itachi came Sasuke, who was someone he REALLY wanted to be friends with or more than friends with or friends with a little something on the side with. Really anything…

But he wasn’t quite sure he was even in friendly-aquaintance territory with Sasuke, yet, so right now, all he had was Itachi.

He scrolled through his phone, stopping at the Uchiha’s name and typing a message. Hovering over the send button, he hesitated, hoping it didn’t seem forward or weird or--

“Fuck it.”

He pressed send.

Over at Sasuke’s apartment, Itachi craned his nose at the comforting smells wafting from the kitchen. “I love it when you cook, little brother. I’m glad mother took you under her wing when father ignored you in favor of me,” he said from his seat, literally feeling Sasuke bristle with irritation at his chiding words from the other room. Their father was a sore subject for Sasuke, but he knew deep down Sasuke didn’t care that much. If he had, he wouldn’t have majored in comparative literature and go on to become a high school lit teacher. Really not becoming of any respectable Uchiha, much less a possible heir. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He glanced at it curiously, smirking when he saw who it was. 

He didn’t even have to try.

_Oi, I’m bored. What u doin ?_

The glaring lack of grammar use made him frown. This type of habit would get on Sasuke’s nerves in no time and that would be no good. He’d have to fix that. He glanced behind him, making sure Sasuke was still occupied in the kitchen. 

_Naruto. My brother and I are having dinner. Come over and join us._

He paused for a moment after pressing send, only to begin typing again. 

Don’t worry about Sasuke, he’ll be fine. Come over, I want us to become good friends. Here is the address—

He smiled to himself when he got Naruto’s reply because _\--WOAH! That’s literally 5 min from my place c u in a sec—_ this was truly a treat from above. His musings were halted when a jolt of surprise flew down his spine as he felt a hand land on top of his head. Craning his neck up, Itachi’s eyes met Sasuke’s, who was looking down his nose, glaring. He was a sight to behold: his dark, murderous gaze clashing wildly with his kitchen apron. 

“Sasuke, put the knife down.”

“Who were you texting? Why were you smiling? What are you planning?”

“Brother, will you just live. I merely took the liberty of inviting a friend over. Be cordial.”

Sasuke exhaled through his nose. Annoyed for starters that his brother had pretty much tricked him into having a stupid dinner together, and now he was bringing a friend. “It’s not Kisame is it? We’ve been over this; he’s no longer allowed in my home due to—“

“No, no, it’s not him,” Itachi swatted away Sasuke’s nosiness. “You’ll see soon enough. He lives nearby anyway. Should be here any mi—“

Itachi was cut off by the doorbell and he wasted no time in getting up to get the door (gracefully of course.) Sasuke peered from his standing position, begrudgingly curious. In the split second it took for him to realize who was standing in the doorway greeting his brother, his curious face morphed into one of beet red horror. The amount of time it took (or didn't take) for him to rip his apron off probably broke several world records. 

Naruto waved in Sasuke’s general direction, pointedly ignoring the dark waves emanating from the young man and giving him a slight bow. “Hey Sasuke. Sorry for barging in like this, please blame Itachi!”

Sasuke’s eyes followed Naruto as he walked from the doorway to the kitchen table, gently led from behind by Itachi, who turned to his little brother, teeth glinting in a maniacal smile. It was times like these he wished Itachi had never left Uncle Madara’s ring of criminals. Let him torture other people far away; just leave Sasuke be!

Itachi pulled out Naruto’s chair as he and the blond chatted idly. It wasn’t lost on Sasuke at all that Itachi was doing all this on purpose. He stomped into the kitchen to grab the food, and it wasn’t long til he felt his brother walk in to grab dishes. 

“Naruto texted me first.”

Sasuke gripped the serving plate harder, glaring daggers at Itachi. “Whatever.”

The three settled into their meals, eating in silence for the first few minutes until Naruto just couldn’t take it anymore. “Neh,” he said with his mouth full. “Sasuke, you cook so fucking well. Do you make ramen?”

Sasuke eyed the tiny bits of food flying out of Naruto’s mouth as he spoke, his features clouded with slight disgust. “You’re disgusting,” was his only reply before he went back to eating in silence. He made a mental note to check out some ramen recipes online. ‘Just in case,’ he thought to himself.

In case of what??? Nobody knew.

“Sasuke makes the best ramen,” Itachi said, barely hiding his amusement. 

“Hn,” he said instead of correcting Itachi’s statement. He’d never touched a ramen bowl in his life. So now he would deeefinitely need to look up some ramen recipes. And cross-reference them with outside ramen. And then perfect them.

Naruto, still unfamiliar with the nuance of Sasuke’s facial expressions, looked on in disbelief. “Ichiraku’s back home makes the best ramen. The absolute best. I’ll bring back a bowl next time I visit. I’m sure your ramen is great, but nothing compares.”

“Oh, I assure you, his is the best,” Itachi waved off Naruto’s statement. Sasuke’s eyes widened.

“Itachi you’re being dramatic.”

“You’ll have to make me some then, neehhhh?”

“Oh, he most certainly will!”

“No I—“

“We usually have a weekly dinner, come by next Thursday? I’ll make sure he makes ramen.”

“Itachi, I don—“ He couldn't possible perfect the dish by Thursday. He will KILL Itachi. KILL!

“Sounds great! Sorry, Sasuke, I know you hate me and all, but I can’t resist a good homemade ramen!”

Sasuke huffed, clearly finished being interrupted for the nth time. His chin rested in his hand and he looked away, “Imfthyou” he grumbled. 

“Come again?”

“I said, whatEVER, you’re fine. I don’t hate you.”

He glanced away before he could catch the gleam in Naruto’s eyes, though they weren’t lost on Itachi. It seemed very possible to him that Naruto could potentially be interested in his little brother. It was as if the Gods themselves were handing Itachi all the pieces, all the dream scenarios, right into his upturned palms and whispering _'Go, have at it, they'll end up together one way or another, no harm in having a little fun.'_

Distracted momentarily by his thoughts, he looked up at hearing a slight tussle between Naruto and Sasuke. Both had gotten up to clear the table, Naruto insisting to show gratitutde and Sasuke insisting because, well, it was his house and his dishes and his kitchen and just GIVE ME THE BOWL!

“Sasuke, be nice!”

His attention snapped to his brother, all but forgotten in the fight to clean the dishes. He quickly remembered The Situation Itachi had just placed him in, taking place next week wherein he would be expected to cook a masterful ramen dish for an apparent connoissuer with very little time to actually prepare. He let go of the dish in Naruto’s hand, who, still tugging, fell back a little at the release in tension. The blond’s eyes narrowed, seeing the rapt attention and anger Sasuke was now channeling to his older brother. The man was certainly a sight to behold, graceful lines contrasting with the hardness of his grim face. The dusky lighting helped a lot too. 

Naruto sighed in relief, gathering the rest of the dishes and stumbling into the kitchen. Whatever showdown was about to happen, he didn’t want to get in the middle of. 

Of course, Naruto was just being dramatic. There was no showdown about to happen. Sasuke always looked like that, frowning in what was either self-disgust or disgust for the world or maybe a little of both. He was also about to quietly go off on a self-righteous tirade, but that was neither here nor there.

Making sure Naruto was out of hearing range, Sasuke gave a sharp tug to Itachi’s low ponytail, hissing, “Fuck if I know how to make ramen you shit head! What the fuck is your game here?”

Itachi smiled, “Game? Just trying to broaden your culinary horizons. I’m bored of your menu—and your lackluster love.” He whispered that last bit to himself. Sasuke heard the mutterings, but couldn’t quite discern anything. 

He glared suspiciously anyway, sneering. “Then don’t eat here. I’m not responsible for you if you invite yourself over. Although I did see a sale on cup ramen the other day. Would that suit your palate, oh brother of mine?” He would never do such a thing, both he and Itachi knew. But regretful things are always said in the heat of the moment, as they say.

Charming. “Did mother just completely forget to give you etiquette lessons? I mean look at you: a perpetually single foul-mouthed ingrate who couldn’t even get a rat, a STARVING rat, to stay for dessert. I’m just looking out for you, the only way I know how.”

Sasuke couldn’t roll his eyes further back without dislodging them from his skull. He opened his mouth to retort, a clever one too, but was stopped by the sound of a dish crashing to the ground and shattering. 

It was a REALLY witty comeback too. What a waste.

The two brothers set aside their petty argument as Naruto peeked his head around the corner, his smile twitching nervously and his face and neck and ears and probably his entire body flushed a fierce red. “I uh—“

“Lemme guess, you broke something,” Sasuke crossed his arms and leveled a steely gaze at the blond, who flinched in response. He moved out of the way as Sasuke disappeared into the kitchen. Itachi would be concerned at Sasuke’s cold demeanor if not for the tiniest little uptick gracing the corner of Sasuke’s mouth. Almost like a smile. As if some tiny sliver in his little brother’s tiny little heart found Naruto’s clumsy act amusing—nay, endearing! 

Grasping at straws? Maybe, if Naruto were not Naruto and Sasuke were not Sasuke. But he knew better.

He followed Sasuke into the kitchen, not quiet entering, and leaned against the doorway. His brother kneeled, surveying the damage as both he and Naruto carefully collected the large shards, placing them in a paper bag. Naruto looked up, careful not to meet his brother’s eyes. “Really, really sorry...fuck—“

Itachi’s vantage point made it so that he couldn’t really see Sasuke’s face, only Naruto’s. But he could see Sasuke’s hand shake in small tremors as he helped clean the mess. Now that he was looking, he noticed the dish that Naruto had broken had been a terribly ugly but well-meaning homemade ceramic serving bowl from Shisui, a late cousin who Sasuke had been very close to. He could only imagine the ticking time bomb waiting to go off in Sasuke’s volatile head.

But it never came. 

Instead, Sasuke’s shoulder heaved in a heavy sigh, his hands resting on his knees. Something about him must have caught Naruto’s eye because the blond wouldn’t look away. “It’s fine. It happens…” Then, thrusting the bag of shards into the blond’s chest (those are JAGGED EDGES, Itachi wanted to yell—but didn’t because tender moments were tender moments—but seriously!), Sasuke probably was sneering as well, “But I expect this dish to be glued back together, SEAMLESSLY, and a 5-page apology essay, 12-point, single space, on my desk, first thing Monday morning.”

Naruto’s jaw couldn’t drop any lower.

“Are you—essay? I can fix this shit but an ESSAY?” He looked so affronted. As if he hadn’t been asked to write such a thing since grad school. Which was probably true.

Sasuke got up from his crouch, dusting his knees and scoffing. “It was a joke. The way people laugh in your presence, I thought you’d have a sense of humor. Maybe my hunch was right and they’re actually just laughing at you.” He paused for a moment. "Please don't write an essay, though. I'm drowning in terrible papers. No need to add another."

Itachi face palmed in the shadows.

Naruto, caught between being offended and touched by Sasuke’s chiding, opted to stay in neutral territory. “Maybe if you changed your facial expression from something other than murderous rage, I would know if something was a joke with your or not.”

“Hn, if you knew me better you would see that I do, in fact, change my facial expressions.” He crossed the threshold of the kitchen, walking past Itachi, witness to all, and gifted him a passing glare. It had half its usual potency. Itachi remained largely unaffected. 

Naruto quickly followed after, smiling widely, and clutching the bag of shards carefully. Making his way to the doorway, he slipped on his shoes and turned to the two brothers. “Unfortunately, I must take my leave. Dinner was great.” He turned to Sasuke, his smile impossibly growing wider. “You’ll be seeing more of me. I can only hope my presence will help you gain better social skills and a sharper wit. It's the least I could do. Thanks for the invite Itachi!”

He let himself out, giving one last cheeky smile to the Uchiha brothers.

The two stared at the closed door for a second before Itachi broke the silence. “I can’t believe you didn’t slice his hands off for dropping and breaking Shisui’s dish. I was so sure.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t intervene even though you thought I would actually do such a thing.”

Itachi sighed, resting his head against the kitchen doorframe. “I wanted you to prove to me that you could handle situations like these in a big boy manner.”

Sasuke scoffed, whipping Itachi’s coat at him, who caught it without looking. “Get the fuck out of my house.”

“With pleasure.”

Hours after Itachi had left, Sasuke was slowly drifting to sleep, his eyelids and body heavy and languid from the chaos of the day. His eyes blearily gazed at the horizontal bars created by the shadows of his window shades and the street lamps outside. The vibrant yellow reminded him of Naruto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope it ok-
> 
> i vaguely read over it bUT probably still ridden w mistakes
> 
> throw me a BONE


	5. sasuke is irresponsible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sasuke realizes he assigns too much homework 
> 
> also he gets drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys here's a weird one 
> 
> not really sure why 99% of my hc (au or not) involve sasuke as secretly lazy bum who participates in all the vices of life with relish but like i luv it.
> 
> also what even is the timeline for this?? at what rate of time is their relationship developing? idk so please dont ask

The next day was filled with nothing but grading. Sasuke had woken up to a barrage of emails from all four of his classes politely (and not so politely) inquiring about various assignments and papers he had seemingly dropped the ball on. He looked to his calendar. It wasn’t ever near midterms, and yet a lot of the students were quite keen to keep track of their standing. He had sent out a mass email promising papers that Monday and he had already made plans that weekend to visit his family, so…

“There goes my day off,” he mumbled into his coffee. It couldn’t be that bad, though. Small piles would get done periodically in during his off hours at school. Perhaps this was a wake up call to not assign as much. Maybe it was time to revise the lesson plan. He pulled out his messenger bag, imagining the the folders with the ungraded papers to be manageable, medium in thickness, not overflowing in the least bit. 

What he got was a the exact opposite. Papers flooded out, half-graded and abandoned. Packets were haphazardly misplaced, notes on margins started but not finished. He sifted through the pile, vaguely remembering his frustrations grading for the past few weeks. He had been distracted lately, sure, but to this degree?

A heavy sigh left his body as his shoulders sagged in resignation. He had promised these by Monday, and he was going to finish them. It was hard to muster up the energy to re-organize the pile so early in the morning, but he somehow managed it, and planting himself at his desk, he got to work.

By late afternoon he had only gotten up twice to piss and grab a snack and a drink. He was barely a quarter finished. The words in front of him began to look more like ancient runes so he decided, maybe it was time to take a short break. Rest his eyes a little. Letting his forehead rest on the cold desk, Sasuke closed his eyes.

He awoke to the sound of his phone vibrating nearby. It was dark out by now and glancing at the clock, he had apparently been sleeping for over two hours. Wiping saliva from the side of his mouth he looked down and saw a missed call from Karin, then Suigetsu, then Juugo, then Karin again. Her second ring must’ve been the one that woke him. 

He frowned. That’s right: today was Friday—they were probably wondering where he was. He hadn’t missed a night since the tradition began and the Gods above knew he was in need of some alcoholic therapy after the week he’d had (and also last night, like what the fuck even was that????) He quickly typed out a text letting them know he had been taking a nap and forgot to set a timer.

But…regardless of how much he graded today, he had barely made a dent in the stack of papers and assignments that he’d been putting off. It was unbecoming of him...

Sasuke bit his lip, considering his options. He could go out tonight, get a little tipsy, come home, have a couple energy drinks, and pull an all nighter. Or, he could go out tonight, get a little tipsy, do some more grading when he got back, but go to bed at a decent hour, and bring stuff to work on over the weekend. OR, he could go out, get wasted, come home, pass out, go see his family, grade nothing, and show up on Monday with donuts for every class. He snorted, realizing what a waste of time looking at his different options were when he knew exactly what he was going to do.

A little tiny voice in his head, ignored since time immemorial, whispered “Maybe you should be responsible and stay home, keep your promise to your students who look up to you.”

Yeah, no.

He let Karin know he was on his way as he changed out of his rumpled clothes. Glancing at the mirror in the hall, he ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing out the thick mane to no avail. Even though he’d fallen asleep on his face, it still managed to become even more unruly than how it’d started in the morning. Finally, he gave up and threw his fringe up in a small half ponytail. At least it would be out of his face. 

Sometime later, he was at the bar, peering over the Friday crowd, trying to catch sight of at least one of his co-workers. They all had very obnoxious hair colors, so it wasn’t hard to spot at least one in a crowd of people. When he finally caught sight of Juugo’s massive frame and orange hair, sitting quietly at a corner booth, he saw an extra body occupying the table—Naruto. As he approached, the ruckus quieted down some as Karin scooted over to give Sasuke space to sit. His bottom barely touched the bench before he grabbed the pitcher of—“Is this sangria?” he asked, eyeing the dark red liquid hesitantly. He licked his lips, following the small orange slices floating idly in the pitcher.

Karin made a face as he poured himself a glass anyway. “Sorry, Sasuke. We didn’t think you were comin’ so…I mean we can call the waitress over to get you another drink…”

Sasuke shrugged and took a large gulp. “No need.”

“Wait, so what’s the problem with sangria?” Naruto said, nursing his own glass, curious at the uneasy glance Karin was giving Sasuke. “You seem to be inhaling it just fine.”

Suigetsu snorted, elbowing Juugo in the ribs, who sighed, and Karin blushed, nudging up her glasses. “Well, you see—“ 

“Sangria makes Sasuke a major slut,” finished the lifegaurd, an evil glint in his eye as he glanced at the Uchiha. “He’s gotten all up on us at least once in the past. I don’t know what it is; nothing else has this effect on him. I’m sure Karin has a page in her scrapbook all dedicated to the time he gave her a lapda—“ 

His words were stopped short by the chokehold Karin now held him in. “Why you--! Shut the FUCK up!”

By now a light blush dusted Sasuke’s cheeks, from his growing inebriation or from mild embarrassment, it was anybody’s guess. He realized he hadn’t had much to eat since before his nap, so grabbing a fork, he nudged a couple orange slices from the pitcher. Good enough.

Juugo pursed his lips, staring at the quickly disappearing drink in Sasuke’s hands. “We’ve made it a rule to not order sangria to share—Sasuke you really should order something if you’re hungry…”

Sasuke snorted, sucking on the orange slice and surveying the table in a deepening haze. He noticed Naruto, his blond hair surrounded by a glowing halo or maybe it was the light, but he was looking everywhere besides Sasuke, beautiful and vivid blue watching intently the fight happening between Suigetsu and Karin, and then eyelashes framing large bright eyes studying the pattern on Juugo’s windbreaker, and then white teeth biting his lip, his swollen pink lip, as he traced outlines in the condensation of his glass. His fingers on the glass, moving in slow, agonizing circles. This wouldn’t do.

He downed the rest of his glass and poured himself another. By now his face was flushed and his eyes were narrowed. He sniffed, and made a threatening face, or what he thought was threatening. To the rest of the table, with his hair half up in a high ponytail and his face rosy with a drunken flush, he was anything but. 

“Oi, why won’t you look at me,” he leaned in towards Naruto, finally catching his eyes, his gorgeous blue blue blue, tracing the rim of his glass with his finger. Naruto’s eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing and suddenly dry, not quite sure how to respond to the Uchiha across from him, his words seemingly normal but utterly wanton. His lidded eyes and blown pupils and flushed cheeks and licking his lips—oh God. 

At his side, Karin let go of Suigetsu, who had begun snickering behind his hand. “Looks like he’s found his next victim.” Karin tugged Suigetsu’s hair in reprimand.

She saw Naruto’s breath hitch suddenly and his eyes avert downwards before quickly returning to Sasuke’s unwavering gaze and impish smile. She backed up and glanced down underneath the table. Sasuke was running his foot up and down Naruto’s leg. “Oh my God,” she said, horrified. Her cousin was frozen in his seat, biting his lip to keep composure. Curiosity got the best of Suigetsu and, after taking a peek under the table and seeing Sasuke’s foot had graduated to playfully running over Naruto’s crotch, he hid his face in the space between Juugo’s back and the booth, shaking with contained laughter. 

“Uhhh,” Karin grabbed Sasuke’s shoulder, breaking him out of his trance. He glared at her as she forcibly turned his face to hers. “Maybe we should get you home, before, you know…you do something you…” she gave Naruto the side-eye who was pale and flushed and glowing with a light sheen of perspiration and holding his hand up to his mouth and looking off to the side and really anywhere but the person right in front of him. “…get too handsy..”

Sasuke scoffed, attempting to roll his eyes to show his disdain but ending up just fluttering them. He turned to his drink to take another sip, but it was empty and when he reached for the pitcher, his hand was stopped by Juugo. Juugo’s eyes were all apologies as he poured the last of the sangria (seriously? It was full when he got there) in his glass and held it above Sasuke’s reach as the Uchiha crawled over Karin and Suigetsu.

Watching the entire scene play out was Naruto, still reeling from Sasuke’s previous actions. ‘Sangria makes him slutty, sangria makes him slutty,’ was his current mantra, counting his inhales and exhales to regain composure. Oh but Sasuke was just so…

Seeing the normally composed man unravel right before his eyes, knees digging painfully into Karin’s lap “--SASUKE, get OFF!” and hand planted on Suigetsu’s face “mmfuckimmffg..” reaching for that last glass of elixir was an incredible turn on, especially after having his leg and crotch massaged gently by his shockingly talented foot (like what even was that?) was pure agony. His shirt was riding up, exposing the pale midriff underneath and Naruto’s already pink face deepened several shades. This would only serve his worse, after all, he’s already had dreams about the Uchiha. Last night being the most explicit one yet. 

He thought back to last night’s dinner, short and uneventful aside from gleaning that Itachi was REALLY a cruel brother, and also breaking that dish. But the look Sasuke gave him when he had apologized tore Naruto to pieces. He could tell the dish meant a lot to him, and stoic as his face may be, Sasuke’s eyes were a cesspool of emotion, uncontrollable and endless in depth, much like the unruly hair that sat atop his head. But he just felt such an urge to kiss all that ache away, to gather him in his arms and tangle his hands in his hair, and whisper promises about gluing that fucking dish back together with molten gold so that it looked like one of those priceless artifacts in the museums because that was the only suitable way to return a damaged item back to such a beautiful human.

But like, that would totally freak him out; really it would send anyone running for the hills. Even Naruto would give himself the side-eye. 

They’d known each other, mostly in passing, for like what, a month maybe? Not even a month. Less than that. Like two weeks. Oh fuck.

The sound of a splash snapped him out of his tipsy thoughts, looking up to find Sasuke soaked with sangria. He snorted out of habit, covering his mouth to stifle any more noise after being met with a glare. 

He wasn’t shocked into sobriety, but he was a little more aware of his surroundings than before. Or at least that’s what the adrenaline was telling him, pumping through his veins as the ice cold liquid dripped from his locks and down the side of his face. “Mmm...mmmkinda drunk—“ he mumbled, wiping a random spot on his forehead as if that would sufficiently cleanse all of the sticky sangria from his skin. 

“Yeah, no shit. No fucking SHIT!” Suigetsu flared in annoyance, rubbing his sore face from the impact of Sasuke putting nearly all his upper body weight on it. 

Naruto bit his lip. Sasuke was beginning to sway. “Maybe we should get him home?” he suggested. He didn’t want to be responsible. He just wanted to leave. Honestly, he was hoping Sasuke was so drunk that he would remember nothing of this, and he would be able to just keep this whole thing to himself. Bribe Suigetsu and Karin to secrecy. He fought the urge to glance down at his still-there hard on. Because, you know, it was still there. Somehow Sasuke’s inebriation and stained skin and slurring words was still just as attractive as the sarcastic, stone-cold, put together sober version. And the weird footsie thing didn’t help at all. (Oh, but it did, by God it did.)

By now Sasuk was slumped into Karin’s shoulder, groaning about something do with papers and grading and “—dunt –hic- take me back I dunwanna—hic ”

“Sasuke, you do this to yourself!”

“Urrrrrghhhh—“ he moaned.

Naruto stifled a laugh. “Here, I can take him home so we don’t have to worry about cab fare. We live really close to each other apparently and I walked here, so.”

The three studied him for a bit, looking to see any bad intentions behind Naruto’s offer. Karin finally relented when she felt Sasuke burp into her new cardigan. She threw money on the table. “All right, that’s it. Take him.” She huffed. “—can’t believe I liked you back then. Gross.”

“Good luck, dude. He’s a fucking handful.”

Juugo patted him on the shoulder, leaving a wad of cash on the table, and extra for Suigetsu, who had bolted out before they could catch him skimping on his part of the check. Whatever. They knew where he worked. “Thanks, and be careful. He’s stronger than he looks.”

“Thanks,” Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s comparatively petite frame around his midsection and heaved him up. “I think I can handle him.”

He was happy to note that Sasuke was not drunk enough to be completely immobile, and was supporting himself easily enough with the little help from Naruto. He was sticky and smelled sickly sweet though, which was kind of gross.

The walk was slow, but not unbearable, and after fighting with Sasuke to grab his keys they entered the residence. Sasuke stumbled in, flicking on the light and then off again. Naruto flicked them back on. The flourescence made him want to vomit.

“Whyryou here ‘gain?” he slurred, narrowing his eyes at the blond, who was busy hooking the keys on the wall. 

“I took you home because you’re sloppy and wasted.”

Sasuke pouted. “Hm.”

Naruto couldn’t believe how adorable Sasuke was jutting his lip out like that. He turned to the side to take the man out of his line of vision. He was caught off guard by Sasuke taking him by the wrist and pulling him back to the couch in the living room, falling backwards onto it, with Naruto on top of him. 

‘What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck,’ a million tiny and very sober Naruto’s were screaming in his head.

Sasuke looked up at him with heavy, lidded eyes and a sly smirk playing at his lips. He began leaning forward, licking his bottom lip in the process. Naruto swore he could hear his own erratic heartbeat and a warmth spreading all over his body. 

“Uh—uh, Sasuke I th—“ he watched the Uchiha get closer. Everything seemed to be in slow-motion and his grip tightened on the backside of the couch. 

“Hmm?” was all he got in reply. He could feel the tickle of Sasuke’s breath on his jaw. The feathery touch made his eyes flutter in surprise and pleasure.

“Uhh...”

“Mmm..” was all Sasuke got out before he reached up and closed the gap between him and Naruto. He knew he was drunk, but he wasn’t THAT drunk and that didn’t stop him from acknowledging the gorgeous man in front of him the whole night. Sangria Sasuke wasn’t afraid to let loose a little once in a while. Especially after working so hard (he barely worked at all.)

Naruto leaned into the kiss, all reservations lost as soon as he felt the impact of Sasuke’s soft lips and roaming hands. But that’s all he’d allow considering Sasuke’s sobriety levels. Nothing more!

He fought the urge to go further as their breathing became heavier and their actions intensified. He pulled away with reluctance and gazed down in apology. Sasuke glared up at him with shiny, swollen lips and flushed cheeks. “Scuse you,” he said in annoyance.

“Sorry, Sasuke. I’d like to continute but you’re drunk,” he sat back and smiled weakly.

Sasuke struggled to sit up before giving up and throwing his head back down. He stared up at the ceiling. “Mmmnot drunk.”

Naruto detangled himself from Sasuke’s legs and got up. “I’ll get you a glass of water and a bottle of pills. Where are you blankets?” 

Sasuke turned over on his side, huffing. He wasn’t that drunk. He felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier and fought to keep them open. “Closet.”

After a few minutes of opening every single closet because Sasuke never specified which (it was his bedroom closet, which felt weird, but whatever) Naruto returned to the sounds of Sasuke snoring, his arm dangling from the side of the couch and his head face down in the pillow. He moved him so that his head was facing the side and covered him with a blanket, leaving a bottle of painkillers and water next to him on the table.

Taking one last look at the sleeping form, he left, shaking his head in an effort to rid himself of the nerves running through him body.

As soon as he entered his own house, he leaned on the door and rubbed his hand over his face. They had kissed.

He started laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not good at writing mature content so please don't expect it it would be so bad and cringy really, im doing us all a favor. 
> 
>  
> 
> also i vaguely read thru this yet again maybe sometime in the future i'll proof read it better and edit it but for now
> 
> no
> 
> pls be nice also


	6. the newly formed special friend task force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone rallies around sasuke's kind-of-blossoming-but-not-really love life without his permission and his students kind of hate him but they LOVE donuts 
> 
> also naruto gets a second job even though he really didn't ask for it

Sasuke woke up slowly and painfully. His head felt heavy and throbbed and any slight movement made him want to simultaneously throw up and cry. 

Fighting hard against his scrambled brains, his gag reflex, and his incredibly upset stomach, he opened his eyes. Someone was clearly watching over him because there sat in front of him a pristine glass of water and a bottle of painkillers, open and ready to be consumed. He vaguely wondered who his savior was because never in his life were he this prepared for his impending hangovers. 

He figured Itachi must’ve scraped him up off the bar floor last night and made sure he was set. 

Sipping the glass gingerly, he swallowed the pill mostly dry. He wasn’t quite ready to sit up yet and he wasn’t about to spill water all over his face trying to get a bigger gulp. 

An hour passed with Sasuke just laying there, immobile but awake. His headache was still there but the nausea thankfully was not. He wasn’t sure how he’d handle driving to his parents’. Slowly, he got up, easing his aching body off the couch and into a sitting position. He finished off his glass of water and got up to shower. 

Underneath the shower head, he thought of last night. He couldn’t quite remember much off the bat but if he thought hard enough, bits and pieces would come back. The was sangria, yes, and he idiotically drank a lot of it. Blue eyes. Lots of blue eyes. His…foot…He stopped mid-lather, covering his mouth in horror with a sudsy hand. 

He rubbed Naruto’s crotch with his foot. Oh God. Oh. God.

And then it all came flooding back. His eyes widened further as he remembered Naruto helping him home. And then him pulling Naruto onto the couch on top of him. And—

His other hand flew up to brace himself against the wall, his face red, and his forehead against the wall.

He kissed Naruto. A lot. Like a lot-a lot.

“Shit,” he whispered to himself, banging his head against the wall and then stopping as soon as he remembered his hangover (and also nearly throwing up at the repetitive motion). “Shitshitshitshit.”

There was no way Naruto was drunk enough to not remember. He helped him home for fuck’s sake. Also, he was probably the one to leave the water and painkillers next to him. He had the whole weekend to come up with a game plan to avoid Naruto that coming Monday.

He got out of the shower, feeling equal parts invigorated and distressed. How was he going to get himself out of this pickle?

After dressing and packing a small travel bag for his weekend stay at his parents’ house, he walked through his living room to tidy up. Casting an idle glance at his desk, he sighed. Yet another pickle that he was in. His students were going to kill him. He briefly considered taking home a couple stacks to grade, but knowing his mom, she wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. And his dad would only scold him about getting behind in his work.

Deciding he would rather handle the complaints of his students than the disappointed ire of his parents, he heaved his bag over his shoulder and left.

He arrived at his old house in record time. The door opened and Mikoto Uchiha came bounding out, her arms opened wide to receive her youngest and (secretly) favorite son. “My little Sasuke, I’ve missed. You. So. Much!” she laughed, hugging and swinging him from side to side. He smiled.

“Little brother, you’re late.” Sasuke glanced up from his Mikoto’s shoulder and glared at his brother, who was now standing in the doorway holding a plate of pancakes. He was still in his pajamas.

Letting go of Mikoto, he walked up the stairs to his house. “Did you get here yesterday and spend the night?”

Itachi’s mouth quirked up in a tiny smile. “Mom only pays attention to you when you’re here, so I wanted to get some bonding time in by coming a little early.”

Mikoto laughed, coming up behind Sasuke and slapping Itachi’s shoulder playfully. “Oh you boys. You know I don’t pick favorites! You’re both my little babies,” she cooed, pinching their cheeks. Itachi rolled his eyes, but smiled, and walked back into the kitchen. 

Closing the door behind her, Mikoto glanced over to Sasuke, toeing off his shoes and hanging his coat. She hid her mouth behind her hand and leaned towards her youngest son. “I was lying. You’re my favorite, Sasuke-chan—although I missed you this morning; no one was there to help me in the kitchen!”

He grinned and kissed her on the cheek, he loved when she said he was her favorite--maybe an indication at how starved for attention he was? Whatever. Another time and another place for that line of though. Turning away, he followed the smells beckoning him further inside. Had he not been a complete husk of a man this morning, he would’ve woken up earlier so that he could be here to cook breakfast with Mikoto. It’s usually how these visits went. He was better at keeping the habit up as an undergrad, and for about half a year after graduating. Back then he had a little more stability in his life: a promising outlook on his future, interviews for graduate programs, a serious live-in boyfriend…

He hated to sound over-dramatic but everything changed when Zabuza ran off with his apprentice, Haku. It was awful and truly a hit on his self-esteem and he basically sank into a dark hole of despair and commitment issues.

But that was years ago and Sasuke was mostly over it. He still had trouble looking at graduate programs, but he was trying. He just didn't want to undertake something that longterm. Ugh, fuck Zabuza.

Loading his plate with pancakes, he walked into the living room and flopped down at the coffee table, greeting Fugaku with a nod, who grunted in response. 

Fugaku smirked, earning a confused glare from his youngest son (he looked so much like Mikoto). “So I heard you finally got yourself a new special friend,” he said, emphasis on the special friend (which was a family joke due to Sasuke using the term “special friend” to describe all his teenage boyfriends before coming out of the closet. He thought they would interpret it as like, a best friend kind of situation, but teenage-Sasuke was never that bright when it came to those things…in the end his parents came out of the closet FOR him. It was embarrassing. Itachi was sad to have missed it.)

Sasuke choked. “Mfhwat!?” he asked, mouth muffled by pancakes and syrup, disdain painting his face. Was it too much to ask for a quiet, peaceful weekend far away from sure trouble (aka, Naruto) with no one getting involved in his affairs? (Oh, but little did he know, tittered the Gods quietly watching from above.)

“I know that face, little brother. Don’t think for a second I would miss a chance to gossip about your life freely with our parents.” Itachi entered the room, graceful as usual. The corners of his mouth were twitching in his attempt to keep from splitting his face in two at the pleasure of seeing his brother squirm. 

“Oh yes, dear, I want to hear a~all about this little ray of sunshine! Itachi tells me he runs some kind of nonprofit? So much better than that, well…you know…” Mikoto trailed off, kneeling next to Sasuke and running her hands through his fringe. 

Sasuke chewed slowly, unable to accept that this was something he was going to be dealing with until Sunday night. Maybe he could leave early…? No. 

He sighed, swallowing the bit of pancake that he wished had stayed lodged in his throat until he suffocated to death. All eyes were on him as he cleared his throat.

“We barely know each other.”

The amount of eye rolls, ‘come ons’ and ‘we’ll get it out of you soon enough’ were deafening as he quietly prayed to the heavens to spare him, just this once, and maybe send a freak lightning bolt to hit the house and distract his parents from his fizzling love life.

It was going to be a long weekend.

\--

The following Monday, Sasuke walked into his first class with two dozen donuts and his best puppy eyes. His students groaned, muttering and yelling this and that about mid-terms and grades and class standings, though generally placated by his peace offering.

He set the boxes down and pulled out a small stack of papers--crinkled and was that drool on one of them? He shoved the offending paper back inside his bag. “For what it’s worth, mid-terms aren’t for a couple weeks and nobody in here is in any trouble grade-wise. So…chill. I did manage to get some papers done, but to make it even, I won’t pass them back until I have everyone’s done.”

"Liar!" one student shouted.

"If I don't get into my first choice university, I'm blaming YOU!" said another.

"What kind of donuts did you get?" asked yet another student.

“Sensei, you should get a T.A.”

He looked at the student amongst the chatter, meaning to say something sarcastic in response, but instead, “That’s actually a good idea.” 

Huh. He wondered why he never thought of that before. He could probably pluck some undergrad student who needed field experience from the local college. He was teaching enough classes to warrant a teaching assistant and he wouldn’t have to grade. Perfect.

“You get an A for the semester,” he said, off-handedly. The student in question turned to her friends with stars coming from her eyes amidst protests, beaming because Sasuke Uchiha was notorious for being stingy with A’s. He wasn’t going to break it to her just yet that it was just a joke. 

By lunch he was exhausted. His students were particularly energized today, probably from the long weekend, and while he enjoyed having a class engaged with material—today was just not the day. He entered the teacher’s lounge with another two dozen donuts and set them on the table across from Suigetsu and Juugo, who eyed him warily. 

“Yo what’s with the sweets?” asked the lifeguard, reaching in to grab one only to have his hand slapped away. 

“They’re for my students for…uh…being good and…stuff.”

Juugo sipped his tea. “Or maybe to buy more time for their lazy teacher who hasn’t assigned any new homework or papers in two weeks because he’s so behind on grading.” Sasuke pinned him with an incredulous stare. Juugo shrugged and continued sipping. “We share students and they’re very vocal.”

The booming sound of laughter coming from Suigetsu drowned out Sasuke’s weak protests. They all knew Juugo was right. Sasuke rarely did anything for his students besides provide them with an education and support when troubles were being had. This was the first time in a while that he had to buy his way into their good graces.

He sat down and flopped his head into his arms. “When did I become such a shell of a man.” And then after a beat of silence: “Do you think I can convince Kakashi to give me a T.A?”

Juugo patted the Uchiha on the shoulder. “There, there. You’re still getting back on your feet...and maybe. If you ask nicely.”

There was a a hacking noise. “It’s been –cough- several years, there’s no way that scarecrow will let you off easy with a T.A.”

Sasuke lifted his head only to glare at Suigetsu with the most venomous glare he could muster. Then promptly dropped his head back down.

And good thing too because Naruto walked in just at that moment, busying himself with preparing his cup ramen, not having noticed the three men sitting at the roundtable in the back.

Juugo eyed the amusement dancing in Suigetsu’s eyes with deep disapproval. 

Sasuke groaned, unaware of any impending situation involving him and Naruto.

At the sound, Naruto turned. He saw a moaning slumped man sitting at a table with Juugo and Suigetsu. He turned back to the dark slump. He could only guess who it was. The lifeguard waved him over, silently. It seemed Sasuke was unaware of his presence, which made sense considering his current position.

A deep blush crawled up his body, creating tingles in its wake, and Naruto swallowed, figuring this was a safe encounter. Though, he's not sure what he'd do if he'd caught the Uchiha alone in a room. Maybe see if they could continue their activities from Friday night--that is, if he wasn't currently also trying to avoid him just in case Sasuke ended up regretting his drunken actions. Grabbing his food, he made his way over to the table, reluctantly sitting between Suigetsu and Juugo. He nodded to both in greeting.

“Cup ramen again, Uzumaki?” asked Suigetsu, kicking Sasuke’s shin under the table. 

The kick was unnecessary, though Sasuke would rather not have anyone know why. In reality he may or may not have already known Naruto had entered the lounge because no one he knew of wore that particular scent of cologne. He smelled like a God. How did one night of sangria fueled escapades turn him into a hormonal teenager? He was perfectly fine admiring the blond from afar just last week!

Instead, he groaned in response, partially for the harsh abuse gifted by Suigetsu, and partially in acknowledgment of Naruto’s presence. It sucked though because now he couldn’t lift his head in case he accidentally made eye contact with the blond. He still very much remembered Friday night and its ensuing chaos and he was still very much embarrassed by it. 

“Is he ok? Also, what’s with the donuts? Can I have one?”

A muffled no escaped Sasuke’s arms.

“Hehe,” laughed Suigetsu. “Sasuke’s gotta suck up to his students somehow before they throw him in a pit of snakes.”

Juugo sighed. “He’s just a little behind on grading.”

“Well, I heard he hasn’t given ba—AH HEY!” 

Sasuke opted to forgo hiding from embarrassment in order to defend his honor. He yanked Suigetsu’s hair to get him to stop talking. “It’s as Juugo said—I’m just a little behind.”

Nursing his hair roots, Suigetsu pouted. “Whatever, dude. I was just joking.”

Naruto smiled, slurping up his noodles. “I bet grading is annoying. Although literature can’t be that bad. You get to read what people are thinking about,” he said, gazing up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

Juugo pointed a glare in Suigetsu’s direction, for all intents and purposes trying to relay the message _‘No, no absolutely not. Abort, abort. No. Stop what you’re doing. No way, no how, please for the love of Sasuke’s wavering sanity—‘_

But Suigetsu was never one to listen. A tiny smile made its way on his face, his snaggle tooth catching his lip, making the expression seem all the more sinister. He had been convinced that Sasuke was going to take his advice last week and, you know, try to get to know the blond more. God knows he needed the sexual release. And Friday seemed promising. But his mood said otherwise and frankly, Suigetsu was tired of listening to all of Sasuke’s rants and complaints. They were friends, all right, but like—he just wanted to drink and complain about inane things like they used to, not listen to Sasuke’s complex emotional traumas. That was boyfriend stuff. Or, better put, potential Naruto stuff.

He swung his arm over Naruto’s shoulders, guiding the man close and turning him around so he was out of Sasuke’s earshot. “Hey, how busy are you with your like—“ he gestured vaguely. “—you know, your little youth project? Does it pay well? I know a way you can get some extra cash.”

Naruto frowned, perplexed at Suigetsu’s sudden interest. “Fairly busy, although—hey man, if you’re asking me to sell drugs…”

Suigetsu rapped him on the head. “No, idiot! I know Kakashi has been putting up ads around colleges for potential T.As…but it’ll make it easier for him to get some people already on payroll. I T.A’d for a bit as an undergrand, super easy, and it pays well. You said you liked reading papers?”

It wasn’t long before Naruto could see the trajectory of this conversation. Also, why was he whispering?

“—talk to Kakashi. Here I’ll show you his office.”

And without a word in, Naruto was being led out of the office. He figured this might be ok. The youth program was taking up a bit of time, there were more kids interested than he had anticipated, but with Itachi’s help, he could divide some responsibilities, maybe call in some old favors from Konoha.

The door opened to reveal the secretary, who gave a cursory glance to Suigetsu guiding a reluctant Naruto towards the principal’s office. She recognized the white haired man—not so much the blond. Not that she cared. She went back to her computer after deeming them unconcerning.

Suigetsu gave a polite knock and then barged in. Kakashi looked up, his feet propped on the table, and his masked face stuck inside an erotic novel. He was definitely a sight, and seeing the latter half of his face had been the objective of multiple senior pranks of years past. “Yes?” he asked.

“Naruto here has expressed interest in T.Aing for the language department,” he patted Naruto’s shoulder. “Right, buddy?” 

The blond scratched the back of his head, his smile unsure, and shrugged. “Ehh…it wouldn’t be so bad?”

Kakashi eyed the lifegaurd, suspicious of his intentions. This didn't seem like it was Naruto's idea at all. What, did Suigetsu think he was an idiot? Asking no further questions, his one exposed eye crinkled in a smile. “Okay. I’ll put you on my list. Thank you, you may go.”

Naruto’s uneasy smile fell into a slight grimace. Well that was easy…too easy. He knew from previous encounters with the man that it was always important to look underneath the underneath with him…he was always up to something. Nothing sinister, but still. Also, he didn’t even get to agree! The two basically made the decision for him! 

Was that even legal?!

He edged out, narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. “Uh. Thanks..?”

Kakashi swung his legs down and waved his book. “I’ll email you when I get something that might fit for you.”

As the two turned to leave, Kakashi cleared his throat. “Suigetsu, stay behind. I have a couple things I want to discuss.” 

Suigetsu groaned, watching Naruto wave and walk away. He assumed he was in trouble. Going to Kakashi's office by choice was always a gamble because he tended to cut corners and well, do things his way. 

Kakashi eyed the lifeguard with humor. “What is the meaning of this?”

Suigetsu shrugged casually, his hands in his pockets. “Well, Sasuke’s been complaining about grading and wanting a T.A and I heard that Naruto thinks reading papers would be cool so…”

Kakashi gave him a flat look. “Did Itachi put you up to this?”

This was news to him. “What’s Itachi have to do with this?”

“You know how he is with Sasuke and making friends…”

“No, this is all me. Listen, I’ll be honest. He’s been super clingy lately and I know for a fact he has his eyes, however much in denial he’s in, on that fucking blond. It’s disgusting, but I’m doing whatever it takes to get this emotional leech off my back.” Suigetsu's eyes perked up. "But if Itachi's up to something, wouldn't it be good to help him out a little?"

Kakashi considered the man in front of him. It had been a while since he’d poked a little fun around Sasuke’s life. He knew Itachi never relented ever since he came back from his—as they say—dark days with Madara’s cohorts, and he couldn’t forget his parents, Mikoto especially. Suigetsu seemed to be getting into the habit of meddling as well. Could Sasuke handle another person involving themselves?

_Little did Juugo or Karin know that at that moment, they became Sasuke’s only true allies._

Kakashi sighed dramatically, already knowing how the conversation was going to end, and began typing out an email. “So you want me to cut Sasuke a break and give him an assistant even though we both know he’s stooped to the level of bribing ALL of his students to be nice to him about late grades?”

“For my sake, yes.”

“And you want me to assign a particular blond to be said assistant in hopes of fostering some type of friendship between the two?”

“He’s been using me as an emotional anchor and like, I might throw him off the roof one of these days, so...”

Kakashi pressed enter, sending his message off into the dark depths of cyber space. “Done, and done. Now go. I’m just getting to the good part of the chapter.”

Suigetsu pointedly ignored the insinuations of the statement and silently praised the heavans above him. Sasuke was going to absolutely murder him but he will totally thank him later.

And somewhere across town, Itachi looked up and smiled softly, having suddenly got the feeling of some metaphoric scales being tipped in his favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is suddenly becoming an incredibly convoluted kdrama. like u know how u start a series and it establishe this specific plotline and then suddnely ur at episode 20 and ur like this isnt what i thought it was going to be nor what i imagine the writers intended HOW did we get there and WHY does everyone change their hairstyle mid-series
> 
> this is that
> 
> also like sasuke/zabuza ?? what?
> 
> also i'm all about juugo serving up that truth tea


	7. plans?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i want to call this chapter filler trash BUT like this whole plot is kinda ????? 
> 
> so anyway
> 
> here we find our two hapless boys slowly becoming friends or whatever and like some tentative plans r made i guess
> 
> also lots of awkward small talk

Sasuke felt dejected the rest of the day. He knew his donut bribe would do nothing more but temporarily placate his students—in a perfect world they would forget all about their missing papers and just leave him the hell alone! It was an off year, all right?

After his last class, he decided to turn off all distractions and get to work, lest parents start phoning him. And he couldn’t really buy his way into their favors…although, some of the mom’s and even a couple dad’s seemed like they might--

He shook his head. No. There was a line, and that definitely crossed it. He wasn’t so averse to work that he’d rather seduce a parent was he? 

He felt the school slowly empty as the final bell rung. After that, it was the occasional loud yell or sound of jogging feet of students involved with extra-curriculars. He managed to get a decent amount done. At this rate, looking at the pile, he might even be able to assign some new papers by the end of the week!

He decided to reward himself and opened his laptop to check his emails. He hadn’t checked them in a couple hours and all his classes ran over a couple minutes due to the students barraging him with questions on the material/life/their grades/etc. 

He wasn’t surprised at the high notification number sitting atop his inbox tab. As he scanned through the senders, ignoring the ones from students for the time being, he came across one from Kakashi.

That’s weird.

“What the hell could he want?” Sasuke mentally scanned through the past couple weeks, trying to figure out if there was anything he had done to warrant an email from the principal. It couldn’t be that bad considering it wasn’t a personal request to see him, but it was still peculiar. Maybe it was just to hound him for being particularly lazy this semester.

He opened it and read through, his eyes widening and his face growing redder by the second. Okay, so he was partially right, but the reality of the situation was much, much worse.

_Sasuke-kun,_

_It’s come to my attention that you’re a little behind on grading. Rather than relay to you the disappointment and frustrations I hold when it comes to your personal habits, I’m here to throw you a life line._

_After scanning through my pool of teaching assistant applicants, I’m happy to report to you that there’s been a match! Naruto Uzumaki will be assisting you in the following classes: Contemporary Literature, and Symbolism and Myth in Literature. And by assisting, I mean grading. Make sure you write a chart he can reference, maybe a packet that covers the basics of what you’re teaching. His resume seems to indicate no prior teaching experience so...Be nice._

_-K_

Sasuke stared at the screen. He blinked a couple times, but the words remained the same. Huffing in frustration he began typing:

_Sensei—_

_I just finished grading all the assignments for those classes, can we switch him to help with my upperclassmen? Also, I understand that you’re the principal, but I don’t see how you’re in charge of doling out T.As…isn’t that something Learning Services takes care of? How did someone so unqualified even get in the T.A. reference list? This sound highly illegal. Won’t be surprised if you’re fired by the end of the year for misuse of power._

_-Sasuke_

He sent it, feeling like he should be more disturbed by the turn of events, rather than disappointed that Kakashi had decided to place Naruto in the classes that he really didn’t need help on. He knew for future reference to never assign 10 page personal narratives over summer break. Teens were the most dull creatures alive, waxing poetic about things he really didn’t care about. THAT could be something Naruto could read and grade.

He heard a ping. 

_Brat,_

_That’s fine. He can help with your creative writing courses. I really don’t care. And don’t mention this to the Learning Services. I’ll never hear the end of it._

_-K_

Sasuke leaned back on his chair, his hands clasped behind his head, and stared at the screen in bemusement. He was certainly suspicious, though Kakashi’s indifference towards it all was not out of character. The timing was just too perfect—much like how Itachi had called him out several weeks ago “giving” him Naruto’s contact information. It seemed like all of Sasuke’s life lately was bad timing on top of bad timing. 

Also, when the hell did Naruto ever express interest in being a teaching assistant? Didn’t he have other things to worry about? Like his youth program? 

“Itachi’s helping though..” he muttered to himself. He huffed. Analyzing the situation was too much after such an exhausting day pandering to angry students and actually doing some work. Clicking his laptop shut, he made ready to leave when he heard his door open.

It was Naruto. 

The blonde peeked in, a tight smile on his face, and gave a short wave. “Hi.” He stepped in all the way, clicking the door shut behind him quietly.

Oh God, did he get Kakashi’s email?

“So Kakashi emailed me…”

Shit! Shit shit shi—wait. How did he know Kakashi on a first name basis?

Whatever, he’d have time to figure that out later. He attempted a friendly smile, but really it was more like a grimace, “Yeah, I figured he would—same here.”

The awkward silence that followed felt like years, both avoiding eye contact by any means necessary. It was clear both men remembered Sasuke’s…advances…from the past Friday, and this was the first time since Friday they were both speaking to each other. (Earlier that day didn’t count—Sasuke was busy lamenting his workload and Naruto was being give the T.A sales pitch by Suigetsu.)

Both opened their mouth to speak. “Well I—“ “So about—“

And both stopped. “You go first.”

“No, no, you, I interrupted,” Sasuke protested, discovering he was quite not ready to discuss his inebriated actions. 

“You sounded like you had something on your mind?” edged Naruto. 

Sasuke realized the hole he dug himself in, starting off his sentence like that. Naruto wasn’t going to let him budge. He sighed, staring at the strap on his messenger back in place of making eye contact with Naruto. If he had looked up at the man, he would’ve seen him fidgeting nervously, fighting the urge to bite his thumb nail in anticipation.

“Ok well. I guess…uhm, I wanted to…” Sasuke really didn’t want to continue, this was so embarrassing. “…apologize for how I acted on Friday. Thanks for, you know, uh…bringing me back to my place and making sure I didn’t like…die. Or whatever.”

He coughed nervously. The tension slowly ebbed away as Naruto laughed good-naturedly. “Ahh, it’s nothing. We’ve all been there before, so…”

Sasuke smiled wanly, finally meeting Naruto’s eyes. He still felt embarrassed, if not for the fact that Naruto underhandedly commented on Sasuke’s sexual advances, acknowledging the alcohol’s role. It was kind of a let down, hearing it brushed aside like that, but at least the subject was finally broached.

“But anyway, about the T.A. thing…I completely understand if you’d rather not have me on, but you know, I’m up to help out.” Naruto offered. He shrugged his shoulders, trying to feel nonchalant, but really he was feeling so intrusive. This was mostly Suigetsu’s doing, though he wouldn’t tell Sasuke that. And he was little taken aback that Kakashi was so willing to jump through administrative hoops to go along with it. Like, wasn’t this some other department’s responsibility? 

Sasuke cleared his throat, zipping his bag shut. “I was just leaving, but we can talk about it on the way out. Unless you still have work…”

Naruto shook his head quickly, stepping back to let Sasuke pass. “No, no. I just have to grab my stuff from my office. I didn’t realize you were getting ready to go. Should’ve just probably sent you an email. I’m not sure why I, uh…yeah.”

So the tension had mostly gone away, but conversation was still pretty stiff. “Yeah, yeah of course. Lead the way.” This time it was Sasuke stepping aside to let Naruto walk first, except Naruto intended on walking next to the man so they could talk, which was what Sasuke had originally offered. Because how were two people supposed to discuss something with someone in front and the other behind? So Naruto stopped and slowed his walk as soon as he got next to Sasuke, who faltered awkwardly in step and tried to let Naruto take the lead, who in turn kept slowing down to remain next to the Uchiha. All this intermixed with quiet “Excuse me’s,” and “No, no, you’re fine..”

An awkward dance indeed. It took several moments of this happening until Sasuke realized Naruto wasn’t slowing down to make sure Sasuke was still following. He knew this school like the back of his hand anyway, so it wouldn’t make sense to be worried about getting lost. 

Sasuke wanted to die. 

Eventually, they managed to walk comfortably in step together towards the other side of the school. 

“So, about being my assistant,” Sasuke started, desperately wanting to cut the silence. Naruto glanced at him in interest. “I really only need help grading.”

The blond chuckled. “Yeah, you seemed pretty bummed out this afternoon.”

“I didn’t realize how behind I’d gotten,” he defended, his cheeks tinting at the memory. “Anyway, I won’t give you too much. I know you have your other work to do. Just until I’m caught up and stuff.”

“Yeah, we might need to uh, meet up or something so I grade everything right. I know teachers have their own ways of doing things.” Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets, averting his eyes to the ground. Sasuke thought he saw the blond blush a little, but he was sure he was imagining things.

“That…sounds fine.”

Naruto looked up, something akin to relief in his eyes. Sasuke’s stomach jumped at the sight, sending tingles all throughout his body, and he briefly wondered how he’d suddenly gotten it so bad for the blond considering how bad their first meeting went. Like really, when did this happen? 

As they reached Naruto’s office, Sasuke took his time glancing around as Naruto gathered his things. On his desk were several photo frames featuring him and people he assumed were friends from his old town. Upon further inspection, he saw a photo of him and Kakashi, and then another of Kakashi and two people, a blond man and a red-haired woman. His parents maybe? 

He supposed that explained his familiarity when speaking about the principal, though that realization didn’t do much to quell his curiosity.

“You know Kakashi?” he asked bluntly, mentally reprimanding himself for the prying.

Naruto glanced up at Sasuke and then followed his line of sight down to the photographs. “Oh, yeah, he was kind of my connection here. He knew my parents before…”

Sasuke wanted to slap himself, of course he’d accidentally talk about something sensitive. 

“Oh,” he replied, hoping to steer the subject into a different lane. “Wait, Karin said—“  
Naruto waved him off. “She owed me a favor and I wasn’t going to cash it in anytime soon, so I just let her think she helped me so we could finally call it even.”

Sasuke chuckled disbelievingly. “What if they day comes when you actually need a real favor that only she can provide? Like a kidney.”

The blond turned to Sasuke with a deadpan expression. “If I needed a kidney and Karin was a match and she didn’t give it to me out of the goodness of her heart just because she didn’t owe me any favors I’d probably disown her.” He was smiling by the time he finished speaking and by then he had gathered all his things.

As Naruto turned the lock he sighed. “But yeah, I was having some trouble with some peo—er, things, so Kakashi offered to help.”

“Trouble?” He wanted details. Desperately.

Naruto chuckled and put up his hands, waving them as if to shoo the curiosity away. “Ehhh, nothing concerning, just like ex-boyfriend things. I’m still close with people back there but it was getting to be a bad environment.”

Sasuke put his head down. Okay, ex-boyfriend issues. He could certainly relate. “That sucks that you were ran out of town like that.”

The other man shrugged. “It’s whatever. I like a change of scenery anyway. And I’m beginning to like this place a lot.” He directed a smile towards Sasuke, who was pleased because maybe that meant he was talking about him? Even though they really had no outside interaction besides dinner and last Friday and like those few times before that. 

“That’s great,” he answered. “But…I’m not sure how the rest of this town feels though with your ugly moped and horrible road skills, though.” He sped up his walking to get ahead of the gaping Naruto and hide his smirk. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks at the insult, his face reddening. He balled up his fists and waved them in the air.

“You take that BACK! That was ONE TIME! And my moped is BEAUTIFUL!”

He ran after the Uchiha, who called from up ahead: “Don’t feed me lies, Uzumaki.”

“Hey wait! What about grading and stuff? We gotta meet up!”

Sasuke had already reached his car and inwardly cursed himself for forgetting. He was planning on making such a smooth and cool exit too with that parting line. UGH.

He stopped and considered for a moment. “Uhh, I’ll get your number from Itachi and just text you. Maybe sometime this week will work?” Lies, he already had his phone number.

Naruto beamed, slowly walking in the opposite direction to his moped, wishing he had parked closer to Sasuke. Not that he knew what the guy drove. “Yeah, we can grab coffee or something.”

Sasuke was glad Naruto was too far away to see how red his face got at that statement. So, like, a date? “Hn,” was his response. Which was ridiculous considering he had to kind of call it out loud enough for the blond to hear who was a row or two away from him. Naruto cringed, hoping he didn’t sound too desperate with his suggestion. 

The two men got on their respective vehicles and exited the premises, both nervous and excited at what the rest of the week was going to hold for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure where their respective towns r but i want to say naruto CAME from konoha and moved 2 somewhere else (lol)


	8. sasuke is Totally Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mostly sasuke being dumb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey
> 
> so im slowing the train down a little
> 
> in case u all thought we were out of friend-land and well on our way to more-than-friend-land u are ded wrong
> 
> anyway i feel like that implies i have some kind of plan 4 this which is very inaccurate
> 
> enjoi

Kakashi Hatake was what you would call a hands-off educator. There was a reason he went into administration as soon as he could once he entered the teaching field. He found it was the type of work he was more suited to doing. He liked helping kids, but he was little too cold, a little too distant, and a little too harsh. And by his third year as a teacher, his reputation had made it so that most students ended up dropping his classes as soon as they found out he was the instructor. He decided to bow out gracefully before lack of class attendance made him too infamous. Such was life.

But climbing up the administration ladder, and eventually as principal, he figured he could help as much as he wanted, from the comfort of his own dark, secluded office. It was an arduous ascent to the title, but very much worth it because the superintendent mostly kept off his back and the vice principal was so helpful and such a perfectionist to the point where Kakashi wondered who the REAL principal was. Even so, he was left in a sweet spot where he could pick and choose his pet projects.

He leaned in his office chair, idly scratching his masked chin, eyeing the man sitting across from his desk.

“So,” he started. “Why are we getting involved with Sasuke’s life again?”

“Brotherly concern,” Itachi responded smoothly.

Kakashi closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as if fending off a headache. Which, he was. Because the Uchihas were just too much. All of them, all of the time. He would know: his college roommate was Obito Uchiha who was an absolutely insufferably, clingy idiot. And wasn’t their Great Uncle Madara some kind of drug trafficker? Ironic considering the family business dealt with law enforcement, but then again the Uchiha were a show stopping family, known for their ‘clan drama’ as Obito once succinctly put it—anything less than a family member going rogue in illegal trappings would simply be dishonorable.

“You’re lucky, you know.”

Itachi cocked an eyebrow. 

“I mean, the circumstances are really lining up for you. Naruto is doing non-profit youth work here, which gives you an in. Sasuke buried himself in a bottomless pit of grading, which, you know, I read his syllabuses and he really, REALLY must have been distracted because it is NOT that much work considering he is notorious for piling on homework beginning with summer assignments. And then Suigetsu practically dropped him at my doorstep with the T.A. thing. Did you offer virgin blood to the family shrine or something?”

A smirk and a shrug. “We find our ways.”

“Anyway, I guess what I want to know is: how are we all so sure this would work out? It’s not even midterms and you’re over here practically planning out his wedding. From what I can gather, Naruto seems to get along better with you than with Sasuke.”

This made Itachi stop for a moment. He mentally ran through all of his and Naruto’s encounters: initially meeting, dinner, emails exchanged, they texted fairly regularly. But in all, their relationship was purely platonic. Very good friends, and business partners, essentially at this point. 

He hummed. “I wouldn’t say so. You know I don’t really care for those things, and Naruto doesn’t seem to be displaying any…signs of interest. Plus, I think I know a good fit for Sasuke when I see one.”

Kakashi clicked his tongue. “You say that as if you know him—as if, dare I say, you watched him grow into the messy, messy man he is today.”

“Oh come on—that’s low even for you.”

The principal’s one exposed eye crinkled in a smile. “You have too much faith in me.”

Itachi rolled his eyes. “Even so, I’m glad you’re doing your part. He’s been much too lonely lately. Even father is concerned.”

\-------

“Suigetsu, what is wrong with you?!” Karin was livid when Juugo told her about Suigetsu’s meddling. “Sasuke needs to learn his lesson. He’s finally realizing how hard he is on students and the minute, no, the SECOND, they start putting the pressure on him dropping the ball…you just HAVE to go and throw a lifeline. Do you know how tired I am of them constantly crying in my office over whether his classes will make or break their chances at their dream schools?”

The man in question put up his hands placatingly. “Believe me, I wanted to see him suffer too. But it was a matter of picking the lesser of two evils. He was seriously overstepping some friendship boundaries! You know last week he was brooding about something and put his head on my shoulder?! Fuck no!”

_“Suigetsu… I think I may have been one of those people who peaked in college.”_

_The two were sat on a bench just outside of the school grounds, both lazily staring up at the sky. The lifeguard took a drag of his cigarette and sighed. Great. Another smoke break ruined. Was this going to become the new normal? “I really don’t care.”_

_Sasuke sighed and continued on as if Suigetsu had said nothing. He spent the next ten minutes tuning out Sasuke, instead distracting himself by counting the blades of grass tickling the legs of their bench. It was enough to reduce the other into a low hum of white noise—that is, until he felt a hard, head shaped lump rest itself on his shoulder. To which he froze for a couple seconds in utter disbelief that he might have come across as actually listening to the Uchiha, and/or actually caring about his issues enough to offer a shoulder to lean on._

_And then he pushed him off, incredulous, and “There is a LINE, Uchiha. A LINE!”_

Karin pushed her glasses up, remembering a time in her life when she would’ve killed for that kind of affection from Sasuke. “Fair enough. But still. It’s totally not right to put this on Naruto. He’s got his own work, you know! He’s not some pawn to be played around with.” She honestly didn’t know what Naruto’s workload was, but for argument’s sake… 

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. “Believe me, Karin. He had plenty of openings to decline and he can still decline now. There’s no binding contract. Kakashi is doing this under the table, I’m assuming as a favor for Itachi. If anything, go hassle him with your indignation over the clear nepotism.”

The redhead huffed, “Maybe I will!” even though they both knew she wasn’t going to even remotely broach the subject with the principal. He had a way of twisting words and situations into something entirely unrecognizable and really, nobody had time for that.

\------

Naruto cradled his phone between his shoulder and ear, stirring a pot of ramen on his stove. He made a face as he listened to the person on the other line. It was Sakura.

He had called in light of the recent “developments” between he and Sasuke. Not really what one would call developments because they were still in acquaintance limbo with a couple weird occurrences that just furthered the tension in the air between them. He glanced to the bag of shards sitting on his counter. He had that to fix as well. 

“I think you should just try to focus on being friends for now,” Sakura said. “I can’t imagine you have the time right now to be fostering an emotional relationship, what with still getting used to this new environment and trying to get your program off the ground.”

She had a point. But it’s not like he was actually going to like, try to date him right off the bat. He wasn’t sure what he had been planning, actually. When did all of this get so convoluted? Was it, actually, or was he just being overtly critical of the situation? What was going on?!!!?!?!

“Right, I mean like, he’s attractive but I don’t even know him that well, you know?”

“Exactly. You both could be completely incompatible, relationship-wise, and that could really damage your professional relationship. I mean, you are his T.A. now. Believe me, you don’t want to get into that.”

Naruto shrugged, even though Sakura couldn’t see him. “I’m not too worried about that. I’m not bound by anything to be his teaching assistant for the full year. I didn’t sign anything. If anything, I have some nice leverage against Kakashi in case he ever tries to cross me because this whole thing went down real fishy.” He grinned. “Blackmail.”

“Hehe, serves that goon right!” (He, Kakashi, and Sakura went way back…he had been a camp counselor to them back in Konoha and at the time it was truly awful, but hindsight made the memory rosy and nostalgic.) “But still, friends for now!”

He smiled into the phone. “Yeah, I know, I know. Thanks Sakura. Come visit so—oh! Ok, yeah of course, I’ll see you soon! Bye!”

He hung up and turned off the stove, absentmindedly licking the excess ramen flavor off of the spoon. Sakura was coming to visit that weekend and wanted the grand tour. 

“Grand tour of what? Prepare to be disappointed..” he muttered to himself, thinking about the dysfunctional and violent acquaintances he found himself surrounded by—and also his very empty apartment.

He sighed and served himself his dinner and made his way to the dining table. Usually, he opted for the comfort of his couch, but today he was going to need the table space. On the way, he grabbed the bag of ceramic shards with his free hand and rustled around one of his junk drawers for some super glue.

It was craftin’ time.

\--------

Sasuke sat in his study (or rather a desk shoved into the corner of his living room), his eyes narrowing every now and then in concentration as he wrote out a rough criteria guide for Naruto. It was pretty simple, at least in his opinion. He was known amongst the student body to be a hard grader with high expectations, especially from his upperclassmen—as expected from the protégé of Kakashi Hatake, although he wasn’t nearly as severe as Kakashi. There was a point in his life where he wanted to get into higher education, and for a period he taught as adjunct faculty at the local college in addition to high school. But then stuff happened and Everything Was Awful for a really long time. He bit his lip as he scratched out a section of writing. Maybe this winter break he could look into some graduate programs again. He’d have to refrain from letting anyone know until things were concrete. His family didn’t need yet another reason to impose themselves into his life.

After another hour or so, he finally had a draft he was happy with. It was concise and kept with his standards, but simple enough for someone with Naruto’s lack of experience to understand and use. 

He knew that the blond would have questions regardless of how clear or complicated the guide would be, and that was fine with him. It didn’t take him long to realize the absurdity of his infatuation with Naruto after their afte rschool talk the day before. They barely knew a thing about each other. Perhaps this could give him the opportunity to foster some kind of a friendship with the blond, or at least an understanding, or like maybe some actual foundation so that his mind could rationalize his very sudden attraction to Naruto. 

Sasuke also just really wanted to get to know Naruto a little better anyway. And he was a little too proud to approach the guy after all the—dramatic—happenings between them. So this was good. This was convenient.

His friends and family gave him such little credit when it came to social situations. It wasn’t that he was bad at making connections—he just didn’t see the point. Itachi blamed the bad conditioning on himself, being absent and kind of a criminal when Sasuke really needed a role model and all that. As if him being there could’ve changed Sasuke from becoming a brooding, introverted teenager to young adult to adult.

On second thought…Itachi was probably right. 

Breaking out of his internal musings, Sasuke printed two copies of Naruto’s grading guide and decided to call it a night. He cast a cursory glance at his phone, hoping that it wouldn’t have to be him to take initiative to set up a small meeting to go over some basic T.A. expectations. To his dismay, there were no new messages. He figured he could be safe giving it another day, but his classes were all gearing up to prepare for he midterm papers and other assignments and he wanted to be as caught up as possible once those started rolling in. So maybe not.

The faint buzzing of the television could be heard in the background as Sasuke lazily flopped onto his couch, phone up in the air above his face. His fingers hovered over the keypad, typing out a message and then erasing, and typing it out again, and erasing. Again and again and again.

He was having a hard time formulating a coherent, neutral message. To him they all sounded a bit too forward. Not really on the desperate side, but more eager than what made him comfortable. 

These things usually weren’t that difficult for him. But then again, usually, ‘these things’ weren’t intertwined together with his working and personal life, with the added level of super weird, intense crushes. It was some sick joke the Gods were playing on him to plop Naruto into his life in such a way that it affected nearly every facet of his life. Though being in such an emotional rut, his life didn’t have very many facets to begin with. But that was neither here nor there.

Eventually he tired of his childish behavior. He was an adult. A fully-functioning, stable (???), tax-paying member of society. He was above stressing about a text message. A simple message about a meeting. He slapped himself lightly on the cheek as if his courage was some kind of inner mechanism that needed to be knocked around a bit to work properly. 

Seriously, was he in middle school again? Smacked in the face with the overwhelming and sudden realization that he kinda maybe probably definitely liked boys? Like, he couldn’t handle sleepovers with his middle school best friend for a whole year because there was only so much he could take pretending to be totally into Google searching “tits” and “Look at those, gotta love that. Wow…that’s a vagina. Incredible. Right well, my mom’s calling me she says I have to come home and that I’m grounded indefinitely. Catch ya later…” when REALLY all he wanted to do was sit in his neighborhood café and gaze (salivate) over the hot, older barista who had no idea he existed while he forced down bitter black coffee in an attempt to look older and more mature than he actually was. (Really, he just looked like a ridiculous 12-year old with an insufferable crush.)

Anyway. He was definitely over those days. He was confident. He was self-assured. Dammit, he was Sasuke Uchiha!

Sasuke nodded in self-affirmation, ready to take on the task at hand. His fingers were poised and ready at his phone’s touchscreen.

_Hey, it’s Sasuke. I finished your grading guide. All of my free periods are booked up tomorrow with various student and faculty meetings. Are you available to meet up and go over T.A. expectations tomorrow after school? I know a great café near the campus._

He shut his eyes and pressed send, as if not being able to see the deed made it all the less stressful.

And now the waiting game. 

Or, for Sasuke, who was definitely not anxious about a response over a casual text message about something entirely work related, now was the time for obsessively cleaning his small apartment to keep busy and his mind off of Distracting Life Things.

From his perch atop a small step stool, dusting the top of one of his bookcases, he heard the small buzz of his phone. He had placed it across the room as if to prove to himself his detachment and nonchalance over whether Naruto decided to respond in a promptly or not, rather than keep it in his back pocket and within reach. The sound of the phone definitely didn’t make him jump in surprise, because he simply Did Not Care. Stepping down, he grabbed the device.

_Yo! Sure sure, I’m free. I’ll meet u at ur classroom? See ya tomorrow._

Sasuke didn’t realize how fast his heart was beating until he read the message with relief. He felt his blood pressure slowly drop (when did it get so high?) and his hands…had they always been this tingly? Anyway, the tingles were subsiding, so he opted to overlook it.

So, Naruto had responded in a casual manner, not at all indicating any weirded out vibes. Sasuke had succeeded in sounding normal. Which wasn’t something he was actively attempting, since he was already Totally Normal. But like, it was good that Naruto hadn’t misinterpreted anything. 

Sasuke’s anxiety was purely for Naruto’s sake. Because how embarrassing would it be for Naruto to read too much into a simple text message, and then Sasuke would have to deal with that? Right??

Sasuke sighed, letting out a huge groan. He needed a drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ????? good????
> 
> i know i need to do some (major) edits of earlier chapters to try 2 even out some bad plot holes but im so lazy 
> 
> anyway i hope none of u readers r taking this seriously this is supposed to be a very Not Serious Piece 
> 
> lalalaa


	9. sasuke honestly needs to chill out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the prelude 2 the CASUAL WORK MEETING

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS UPDATE is literally a pile of nothing, bt anyway enjoy i guess

The next day came way too quickly. And it passed even quicker. As the final bell rung and students began filing out, Sasuke was disappointed that not one stayed behind to talk about any of the school material or homework. Not one.

Usually, he could count on a few stragglers, so focused on perfecting their assignments. Maybe he had been too convincing when he said none of them really had to worry about their grades. 

He’d have to find a way to instill fear in them once again. Cracking his knuckles, he typed out a quick email addressed to each and every one of his students:

_Students,_

_I misread the grade books. Don’t get too comfortable with your standings…I suggest you all look at your study material and hustle. Surprise exams (worth 20%-40% of your midterm depending on how I feel) for all respective classes are sitting in my saved documents, ready and waiting to be used at any given moment. Watch out for that full moon._

_Also all extra credit opportunities are frozen until after midterms._

_Have a good day,_

_s.u._

The surprise exam was a lie, but none of his students needed to know. That would surely pull them back from their relaxed stupors. The donuts did well in appeasing their anger and frustration at late graded work, but it also made them think they had the upper hand..

And that simply wouldn’t do.

He sent the email, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied smirk. That is, until he realized his After Work Obligations.

Or rather, His After Work Obligations With Naruto.

Sending the email maybe distracted him for all but five minutes. His leg twitched involuntarily. According to their Completely Nonchalant text conversation last night, Naruto would meet him at his classroom after classes. So all he had to do was wait.

He glanced around the empty room, hearing nothing but the incessant ticking of the clock. 

Sasuke briefly wondered whether he should pack his things now, or would that look too eager? But what if he waited until Naruto arrived, and Naruto would have to stand there while he got all his things together, super awkward, and he would just feel extra nervous with the blond watching him and he’d drop things probably..?

And it would be awful.

Slowly he began to ‘kind of’ gather his things. Papers were stacked and paper clipped neatly, settled into their respective folders. Those folders were carefully slid into his messenger bag. A pen was hooked onto one of the inner pockets, just in case he couldn’t find one at home. The jacket behind him was adjusted, every so slightly, in a way that gave him easier access to slip off the chair and onto his person. He kept his laptop on the desk and opened to make it seem like he was occupied and not waiting in silence.  
\--

Across the building, one Naruto Uzumaki was hurriedly rushing through a meeting he forgot he had scheduled with a student. Pretty unprofessional but it could’ve been worse if it were any other student. This particular meeting was with his protégé, so to speak: Konohamaru Sarutobi. He knew his grandfather, was fond of him, so upon finding out that the old man’s grandson attended the very school that Naruto moved to…Well, of course he’d take the little man under his wing! Konohamaru wasn’t really at risk for anything except your basic teenage hijinks, but he still liked the idea of being a big brother figure to him. 

Sakura had narrowed her eyes and accused him of favoritism after mentioning him on the phone, but like what did she know, right? 

Too bad he overbooked himself for the afternoon. Konohamaru could wait for another time, though right? At least, that was his through process as he shoved things in his bags as discreetly as possible while nodding his head at whatever nonsense was coming out of the boy in front of him. 

So he didn’t notice as Konohamaru whipped out his cell phone during his rant about probably something stupid that happened that day (?) and scroll through his emails and texts. 

But Naruto DID notice when the teen shrieked, clutching his phone in anger, his face reddening as he read the words sent not too long ago by his teacher, Sasuke Uchiha. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?”

Naruto’s rushing about halted as he rounded his desk to investigate what got Konohamaru all riled up. He was hoping it had nothing to do with whatever they were previously talking about because he wasn’t listening. At all. 

“What happened? Everything okay?”

Garbled noises of frustration were all that escaped from the student. He was so done. “Uchiha is just being so MOODY! First, he brings up donuts because he’s been slacking, and now suddenly he’s threatening us with a surprise exam! What the HELL!”

Naruto laughed, skimming the email over Konohamaru’s shoulder. He had to admit, it did sound daunting, although when opportunity knocks…

“You should probably leave early and get started on studying, then!”

Konohamaru opened his mouth to protest, though nothing he could possibly say could stop Naruto from ushering him out the door. “Ah, ah! Don’t worry, we can continue another time. I’m free all this week after school. Just let me know what works for you…” he paused for a moment and stuck out his tongue. “…But between you and me, I wouldn’t be too worried about that exam.”

He waved Konohamaru goodbye from the doorway. As he gathered the last of his belongings, he took a quick glance at the clock. He had kept Sasuke 15 minutes past the last bell. Oh well.

\--

Sasuke had done all he could do to discreetly prepare for Naruto’s arrival. In the last 15 minutes he suffered through varying waves of anxiety, self-berating for said anxiety, and uncontrollable despair for the sick hand he’d been dealt in life (so dramatic.)

It was as if he’d reverted back to his teenaged self, and that simply wouldn’t do. 

He brought his hand up and lightly slapped himself in the cheek, willing himself to get it together. What happened to the self-righteous anger he held for the blond (solely due to Naruto’s unacceptable possession of a drivers license)?

Sasuke had quickly lost the upper hand in this particular life arc no thanks to Itachi and company, and he’d be damned if he didn’t get it back. He wiped his hand over his face and sighed loudly. Everything was going to be fine. He prepared the guide, it was just a casual meeting, nothing could possibly be implicated from this professional appointment. Mid-sigh his door burst open, Naruto having broken into a mild sprint as he realized his office was farther away from Sasuke’s classroom than he thought (seriously HOW did the students get to class on time with just FIVE minutes in-between periods.)

“—so sorry to keep you!” he huffed out, only slightly out of breath. Glancing at his watch, he winced. “Hope you haven’t been waiting too long.”

Sasuke was glad his hand was half covering his face because Naruto’s ruddy cheeks, panting, and leaning on the doorframe...may the Gods have mercy on his soul.

His ogling was strictly internal though, stamped down by his self-control. He shrugged, playing it cool. “It’s fine, I’ve been working on stuff. Work, and all that.” He turned to shut his laptop and his eyes only slightly widened in horror as he realized the random word document was still open and exposed on his computer, completely empty of content except for the mindless gibberish that he had been typing as a means to occupy his hands. 

“Heh, yeah,” Naruto scratched the back of his head. “I forgot I had a meeting with Konohamaru. He was complaining about your email by the end of it…I call bullshit.”

Sasuke sniffed, gathering his things that he had meticulously ‘kind of packed’ and made his way towards the doorway. Naruto half-turned to let him go first.

“Bullshit or not, those kids will respect me. Not one student drilled me about their grades today…they’re not allowed to be comfortable.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, watching Sasuke lock the door of the classroom. “While I respect your intensity, it’s just high school. Maybe you should look into the undergrad track.”

There was a beat of silence after that, Sasuke unable to find a response for the blond. Because he did see himself one day teaching at the professor level, but he was still in a weird rut and was having such difficulty finding the motivation to do anything more than settle. 

He pursed his lips. “Yeah, maybe.”

Naruto furrowed his brows, worried he might’ve said something wrong. Had he said something wrong? His mind scanned through his previous statements, trying to determine any triggering words in them. He had figured Sasuke would take them as a compliment, as he was expressing how overqualified Sasuke was as a high school teacher.

And like that a ding went off in his head and he mentally kicked himself. Maybe he was being too presumptuous. Maybe Sasuke LIKED teaching high school students and felt pressure from his family to teach become a professor. That was probably it. Itachi had said something about their parents raising them with high expectations, and being reluctant to accept Sasuke breaking away from the family business. He glanced at Sasuke, who was barely masking his distaste for the subject.

He reached out, “Hey, I’m sorry for being presumptuous. I’m sure you’re like, getting tons of pressure to you know, go to grad school and all that. If you like being a super hardass high school teacher, that’s totally cool. I mean, someone’s gotta keep them in line.” He finished off with his trademark Uzumaki smile. 

Sasuke looked up and smiled wanly, not quite reaching his eyes. It only disappointed Naruto like….a whole lot. But before he could say anything Sasuke sighed.

“No one’s pressuring me. It’s just…I kind of got off track. But I did—I mean do want to teach as a professor. It’s been my goal, kind of. I did some adjunct teaching a couple years ago while going to grad school but I dropped out because…well that doesn’t matter. I’m trying to muster up the energy to reapply to some programs, but like…” he patted his stuffed messenger bag. “I’m kinda struggling with my actual job at the moment, so.”

Naruto felt his shoulders relax and then tense up all at once. So he hadn’t triggered him in the one sense, but actually just reminded him of essentially failing to become the professor he had wanted to be. Great. He breathed in, wondering if Sasuke was going to continue. After a couple seconds, he felt it was safe to change the subject. The two were walking on the sidewalk now, just past the school grounds, and towards the center of town. He stretched his arms behind his head.

“So where is this fancy pants café you were talking about anyhow?”

Sasuke snorted, earning a silent sigh of relief from Naruto. “I never said it was fancy, and it’s a little further up. I used to go to it a lot when I was younger. Work on homework and stuff.”

“Oh yeah? Homework? Did you flirt with the baristas to get free coffee? I did that a lot in college…being broke and all,” he laughed.

Had he looked at Sasuke, he would’ve seen the Uchiha’s face redden at the memories of his pubescent self trying to hard to act mature and attractive to the older barista that he had been positively in LOVE with (to no avail.) “I had no need for handouts,” was his response, earning a sour look from the blond.

“They weren’t handouts, I simply just used my charm to my advantage!”

“Right.”

The wind had picked up by the time they had reached the café, so both were relieved to enter into the inviting and warm interior, tempted by the smells of fresh bakery items and coffee. 

Naruto slipped his coat off and sniffed the air with flourish. “Ahhh, this place smells divine! You chose well Sasuke!”

Mirroring the blond’s actions, Sasuke smirked. “Of course I chose well. I always do.”

They both decided to find a place to sit, a little two person table set next to a window. Sasuke gestured for Naruto to wait in line while he prepared all the necessary materials they were going to be discussing. He had almost forgotten this was a work-related meeting, the cozy atmosphere settling into their bones. It almost felt as though they were on a casual first date. A first step into exploring what might be. 

He looked at the papers one more time as he went to join Naruto in line, reminding himself that that was NOT what this was. 

As the two men discussed what they were going to order, a dark shadow shifted behind a potted plant. A throat cleared as the figure lifted a small walki-talkie to his mouth. “Targets sighted.”

 

\--

Extra:

Itachi tossed a package onto Kakashi’s lap. 

“What the hell is this?”

“Open it,” he responded.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but a pair of walkie-talkies were not even on the list. “And what do you expect me to do with these.”

Itachi narrowed his eyes. “I think we both know the answer to that.”

And that was how Kakashi sighed the longest most painful sigh anyone could ever sigh, breaking the world record and effectively dethroning Shikamaru Nara of his proudest achievement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> up next: they talk a lot and other things, its casual, its nonchalant, its all guuuuuud
> 
> or is it ????
> 
> lalalalala


	10. global warming or something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a conversation and then there's like some development or whatever.

“So…what I’m getting out of this is…grade them as hard as humanly possible.” Naruto set down the syllabus packet he had been examining and frowned at Sasuke. “I honestly thought everyone was kind of exaggerating when they would talk about your teaching, but damn, Sasuke! It’s just high school!” 

Naruto brought his point home by dramatically taking his reading glasses off his face. (Which, by the way, Sasuke had absolutely No Reaction to those glasses when he first saw them. Absolutely none. Karin had glasses, Itachi wore glasses sometimes, who cared about glasses????????? He just so happened to cross his legs a little tighter at that exact moment when he looked up and well, yeah, that’s it.)

“I told you, I hold my students at a high standard. They need to get used to being held accountable, especially my upperclassmen.”

“But—“ Honestly, Naruto didn’t mind the grading so much as having to familiarize himself with the material. Specifically for the literature courses. Creative writing would be easy-peasy, although he did hold reservations critiquing student work when he had little to no experience on it.

“Listen, if you don’t feel good about this, you don’t have to do it. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll just pull some all-nighters and that’ll be that.” Barring the fact that he hadn’t pulled a successful all-nighter since undergrad. Which was years ago.

Naruto pursed his lips. “It’s not that…” He paused, frowning as he chose his words carefully. “I just…”

Sasuke watched as Naruto flipped papers over and around, gazing hard at the the syllabus for his comparative literature class. He snorted.

“Naruto, I hope you don’t think I expect you to help grade papers for a LITERATURE class. I just want you to help me with tests and short answer essays…you know, things that I’ve already made answer keys for. Unless…that’s too much for you?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the tone. “Okay, smartass, if you already have answer keys then why are you having such trouble getting this shit done!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, his cheeks coloring slightly at being called out. “Well I WOULDN’T have so much trouble if my students didn’t write such DULL papers. I can’t even get to the easy work having to trudge through all this—“ he waved his hand around, trying to find the right words. “—all this unimaginative trash.”

Naruto smiled. “You truly are a horrible person.”

Letting out a bark of laughter, Sasuke felt all the tension in his shoulders ease. The conversation easily flowed from there and soon they found themselves talking about anything BUT school.

\--

From behind a nearby potted plant, Kakashi sat. He had moved his table and chair just so (ignoring the looks from the baristas) before Sasuke and Naruto arrived, as per Itachi’s instruction. So far, everything seemed to be going just as he imagined:

Naruto and Sasuke shuffled papers around over coffee, probably talking mostly about work with a little sprinkling here and there about personal things. Both men crossing and uncrossing and recrossing their legs at regular intervals.

He sighed, tapping out a quick message on his phone. His walkie talkie had long since been abandoned, thrown gracelessly in the trash where it belonged. The principal pulled out his favorite novel, softened at the edges from years of use and began to read. Nothing exciting was happening and he wasn’t about to crouch on his haunches eavesdropping on a conversation between two adults….regardless of what Itachi wanted. 

So he settled into his seat and immersed himself in the familiarity and comfort of his book, ignoring the glares of a nearby mother who had taken a glance at the cover of his reading material and strongly disapproved.  
\--

An hour or so later, Sasuke found himself feeling sore at the cheeks. He couldn’t remember the last time he had genuinely smiled so much. Currently, they were both recounting their pasts having recently found out about their mutual connection with Kakashi: Sasuke having been his protégé during undergrad and then when he got hired at this high school. Kakashi had deigned to take him under his wing, having been the Head of the Literary and Language Arts in the school before he switched tracks into school administration. Meanwhile Naruto had met Kakashi at a much younger and impressionable age; during summer camp with his best friend Sakura, Kakashi had been a camp counselor. He was neglectful, but when he did decide to care, was super steadfast on following the rules. Basically, Naruto and Sakura hated him because he was equal parts unpredictable, unreliable, and an asshole. They much preferred the OTHER counselors, like Obito or Rin. All three knew his parents back when they were alive, and were kind of like the older siblings he never had. 

“Wait, wait,” Sasuke said, eyebrows knit in disbelief. “Did you say Obito?”

It could very well have been a coincidence, although he had yet to meet anyone or hear of anyone named Obito, besides…well…. 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Do you…happen to know his last name? Or remember it?”

Naruto paused, looking up and to the side as if the ceiling could provide him with an answer.

“I think maybe, like…” he grimaced sheepishly. “I have no idea, man. Sorry. It was so long ago. Plus, he was only there for like one and a half summers. The second one he went completely AWOL. Rin was devastated for like…the rest of the summer when he disappeared and then SHE never came back, and Kakashi had become even MORE moody…but a little less of an asshole.”

“Weird. I have—or had--an uncle named Obito who got into some shit when he was a teen. Could be the same guy, who knows?” Sasuke shrugged. “I guess Kakashi would know.” He downed the last dregs of his coffee. 

“Speaking of, you know he’s been sitting behind that plant since we got here?” Naruto gestured behind him to the shadowy figure, currently nose deep in a dirty novel. “Weird coincidence, huh?”

“Yeah, right. It’d be a coincidence unless the whole thing didn’t stink of my brother. I really don’t know how I idolized him so much as a child, considering how much hell he puts me through on a daily basis.”

Naruto shrugged. “He seems nice. Very helpful and informed.”

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. “Informed, right. I’ll probably be hearing all about this meeting from him once I get back, no thanks to KAKASHI.” He yelled out the last part, his eyes averted to see if the man behind the plant made any response to hearing his name spoken out so loudly. 

Nuthin’.

Both men looked at each other, a soft smile gracing Sasuke’s face after seeing that his comment had made Naruto laugh in response. “Wait, really? Don’t tell me he’s one of those nosey older siblings…like a sitcom?”

“He’s worse. I can’t believe I used to be obsessed with getting his attention. Like when I was younger. Now I can’t rid of him.”

It was hard to imagine the stoic teacher as someone who would DEMAND love and attention, even from his brother. If anything, their relationship seemed to suggest that Itachi had always invaded his brother’s space and doted on him, no matter how embarrassing it may have been, while Sasuke always kept him at an arm’s length (unsuccessfully.)

After a couple moments of silent reminiscing, Sasuke knew their meeting was coming to a close, and any prolonging would lead to more awkwardness, which is what he was most focused on avoiding. Inwardly, he was stamping down the desire to end their conversation with the ubiquitous ‘I had fun, we should do this again,’ because it made the whole thing sound like a Date and this was definitely Not a Date. Was there some other way to end this without sounding sappy? If there was, he wasn’t finding it. His eyes widened as Naruto’s laughter began to ebb, meaning their would be a moment of silence if Sasuke didn’t think of something to say quick.

But he was brought back from his thoughts when Naruto coughed away the remnants of his chuckles, tapping his phone to quickly check the time. “It’s getting to be a little late. And cold. I think we should…call it a day? I’ll definitely be around school, so…”

Sasuke blinked. He had been prepared (or not prepared, actually) to be the one to make the closing statements, but it seemed Naruto had beat him to it. “Right, right. Yeah, I’ll throw some papers in your mailbox tomorrow morning. Does…a Monday deadline sound ok?”

“Yeah sounds fine to me!” Naruto replied, scooching back in his chair.

The two men got up off their seats, brushing crumbs and other bits off their pants and shrugging on their jackets. Both winced and burrowed into their coats at the burst of cold air as they left the warmth of the café, heading back to the school.

\--

Later that evening, Sasuke sat sprawled on his couch, his phone high above his face as he glared at the screen. It was the first he was hearing about it, but apparently it was supposed to SNOW starting midnight and all next day, and it was ONLY the end of October.

“Damn climate change,” he mumbled as he turned his head, the television set on the weather channel as if by some miracle, the weatherman would have different information. Like perhaps maybe the snow was all a lie?

It wasn’t. In fact, it was even worse seeing the storm crawl its way up to the area on the radar screen.

His eyes reverted back to his phone, which was resting comfortably on his chest as it lit up and vibrated from an incoming call.

“What the—“ Sasuke placed the phone to his ear. “Kakashi, what the hell do you want?”

“Not sure if you’ve checked your email, I’m leaning towards no, so I just wanted to let you know that school is cancelled tomorrow. Enjoy the long weekend. Maybe get some grading done so Naruto doesn’t have to do all your work. I know you guys got coffee earlier today discussing that, but don’t depend on him too much, you know?”

Sasuke gritted his teeth, glaring at nothing in particular because he was all alone in his apartment. The audacity. “Can you just stop, Kakashi. And stop hanging out with my brother. You may be my boss, but—“

“Mahh, mahhh, don’t get so angry. Or payroll might accidentally misplace your pay stubs.”

“That’s not how it WORKS.” There was a brief pause. “And I NEED that money!”

“Mmmm, I’m sure, I’m sure. Well, it was a nice talk. Have a good day off. Good-bye.”

Sasuke blinked at the phone as the dial-tone suddenly kicked in, his mouth half opened with a response that he was unable to articulate before Kakashi ended their conversation.

Whatever.

His arm flopped over the side of the couch as he glanced at his messenger bag full of Work. 

Well…if tomorrow was going to be a day off, he might as well just relax for the night.

He wondered if Naruto was the type to check his emails in the evening? What if he went to school tomorrow only to find out it was closed. Was he on close enough terms with Kakashi that he would receive a personal phone call to get the heads up?

He brought his phone up to his face. Should he text him? Like say, ‘Hey, I’m sure you’ve heard, but in case not, school’s closed tomorrow.’

Or would that be weird? But they literally kind of hung out today. Work related things can be considered hanging out, or…?

He sighed, lowering his phone to cover his face. It would definitely be weird.

He felt himself drifting off, the glass of his phone pressing onto his nose, when he heard a sharp knock on his door. 

\--

“Aw shit, it’s gonna snow too?!” Naruto rubbed his upper arms, freezing. His heating unit had decided to malfunction, aka not work, upon his return home, just as the cold began to REALLY set it. “Fuck!” 

He blew into his cupped hands, as if that would help at all. (It didn’t.)

He texted Sakura a quick update on the weather, and his heating situation, since she WAS looking to visit that weekend, though with all these new developments, it might be pushed back to a later date. 

‘Do you have somewhere to go while it snows? Surely you’ll freeze if you stay at your place? Stay warm xx’

He bit his lip. That would make sense. He didn’t really think of that. 

‘Yeah I guess I have a couple people I could ask. But I don’t really know anyone THAT well…’

He mind first went to Sasuke. But he immediately brushed that aside. Sasuke’d probably get really weirded out, and there was that one night where he kissed him or whatever cause he was REALLY drunk. Which, did he mention how weird (but nice) that was??? And he lived SO CLOSE.

Should be easy. Except, well. It wasn’t.

He hung his head, wondering what to do.

Maybe he could just walk over with some beer, instead of calling?

That’d be less formal, more friendly, less intimidating. Plus, who didn’t like free alcohol? And really, Sasuke wasn’t that scary, or mean, and nothing he’d done in their previous interactions made him think he’d turn him away out of the coldness of his heart.

So he gathered an overnight bag and took out a six pack from his fridge. Walking out of the kitchen, he spotted the ceramic bowl that he’d meticulously pieced together the other day. He probably should bring that too, before he forgot.

About 10 minutes of walking brought him to Sasuke small town home. He briefly looked around, his breath condensing in the cold air, as he walked up the steps and to the door. A single, uncarved pumpkin decorated the front porch. (Typical, he thought.)

He held his breath as he brought his hands up to knock on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapter full of nothing is here. but like, it's getting somewhere, patience(???). also, i'm slightly editing details in the prev chpters bc my timeline is SO fcked up lmaooooooo like i wish u guys could see the outline i have for this (the punchline being the outline doesnt exist lololol)
> 
> but ya i mean, if ur interested, do give the prev chapters a once over or a quick skim, in case ur feeling like some key things aren't making sense (BC im well aware of ALL the holes, i quietly cry about them everytime i post a new chapter digging myself in deeper)
> 
> but ya they're not edited now, but soon i guess. hopefully. 
> 
> ~njoy


	11. blizzard pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some dumb friendship stuff and itachi is REALLY good at networking

Sasuke’s eyes opened, bleary with sleep and glazed with confusion as the sharp raps on the door began again. He had ignored the first few, assuming it was Itachi and they were just what he called “courtesy knocks” in which he’d come strolling in with his set of keys whether Sasuke got up or not. But apparently, with the visitor still outside and still knocking…it clearly wasn’t his pesty older brother.

“Who the hell…?”

He stole a quick glance at the front of his shirt, brushing away any crumbs that had made it onto his chest during his evening snack and wiped his face of any naptime drool. God, when did he become such a mess??? 

Sasuke stared at the door for a couple seconds, almost as if the concentration would allow him to see the visitor without actually opening the door. Unfornately, his little home did not come with a peep hole, and peering around the side windows would give himself away. He was going to open the door either way, but it was a little rude to peek out so obnoxiously before answering.

No amount of peeping or whatever could’ve prepared him for Naruto though, whose fingers were literaly frozen from holding his housewarming offering and bag of ceramic shards in the beginnings of a blizzard. He barrelled through as soon as Sasuke cracked the door, shouting apologies like “So fucking sorry for being rude and all but like I’m about to fucking freeze to death and I don’t have time for formalities also where’s your nearest sink I need to thaw out my hands.”

Sasuke was still at the door, hand supporting the frame as it stood ajar, slightly shivering at the cold wind blowing in from outside. “Wha—“ he said, his jaw slack at the blond, hustling through his living space and into his kitchen. He finally got it in him to shut the door. But llike…why was there an overnight bag thrown haphazardly on his couch? What was in that paper bag?

Beer?????

“May I ask what the occasion is?” he yelled out.

“Well….so the heat in my building is broken and I’m not too keen on freezing during this blizzard…” Naruto answered, voice muffled by the stream of water currently defrosting his hands.

“So…you came here...” His insides did small somersaults as he tried to play cool because what!!!!!??? He came!!!!??! To his house!!??!!!! “What about Karin? Isn’t she your cousin?” 

Inside the kitchen, Naruto grimaced as he shut the hot water off and dried his hands on a towel, already missing the warmth of the hot water (because of course he’d forget gloves, but he wasn’t banking on Sasuke taking 7 years to answer the door.) “She lives really far. Plus, she and Suigetsu have some weird thing going on. I just know it. And it grosses me out.”

Sasuke wrinkled his nose at the very thought of Karin and Suigetsu having relations. “Yeah, good call.”

“But yeah, so…I came here. I mean, with you so close and all that…plus, I brought alcohol!” He made his way out, going to lean against the doorframe but missed it entirely as he set his eyes on Sasuke, standing nonchalantly in the living area. The Uchiha turned to Naruto, who barely caught himself in time. He coughed, hoping the sharp sound would distract from the glowing red hue making its way up his neck and face and ears and like—did he run into the house THAT fast that he didn’t even notice Sasuke was--

Sasuke smirked, completely unaware of the turmoil currently going through Naruto’s head. “Pft, a six pack is all you have? Please. Unless all that’s just for me.” Immediately he wanted to eat his words because WOW could he sound any less like an alcoholic right now? “I mean, I can share, though, whatever,” he quickly recanted. “And I have more if we run out.” Yeah, about that whole not sounding like an alcoholic thing…

Naruto just laughed. Or tried to because honestly it sounded more like he was choking. Either way it was VERY unattractive and sounded a little gross. 

Sasuke took a glance at the overnght bag. “So I don’t have a spare bedroom, but the couch is really comfortable. Hope you’re okay with that, not that you have a choice.”

Naruto awkwardly looked at the ceiling. It was clear now that Sasuke had absolutely NO idea—which was a little more than adorable but like he still felt so weird about it. Because who wouldn’t? He licked his lips, averting his gaze from the ceiling to the floor, balancing on his heels and stuff, his hand going up to scratch at his head. 

They both stood in the room in silence (except for the tv, which Sasuke had left on), their mouths quirked in comfortable but still kind of awkward smiles. Kind of like in a “now what” sort of way. 

“Well,” shrugged Sasuke. “Make yourself comfortable I guess. I didn’t really have dinner. I kinda…fell asleep,” he looked off to the side, slightly embarrassed for some odd reason. It’s normal for people to nap after a long days work only to wake up in order to relocate to their bed for actual, REAL sleep, right?

Either way, he felt exposed as fuck. Not only did he probably look like a hot mess, but so did his living area, upon closer examination. (Was that why Naruto kept looking around?) So like, either he had to look at Naruto’s earnest and gorgeous face with his own puffy ‘just woke up from a nap that had been spent entirely face down’ situation, OR he had to face the reality of how the last time he’d picked up the area was like two days ago which wouldn’t be a big deal if not for the amount of take-out boxes, discarded clothing items, and other miscellany had somehow ended up strewn about. 

It wasn’t his fault that these past couple days he had felt the urge to take off his pants and feel the gust of freedom as soon as he stepped into the privacy of his home.

Which, thanks to that train of thought, reminded him that that day was not an exception to the established pattern and he was, in fact, standing in front of his newly minted and very attractive work-friend-associate-acquaintance in his one and only pair of whity tighties.

(He was a boxers-type…except of course of all the days he decided to to change it up…)

He supposed maybe THAT small detail explained why he felt so exposed, and not the messy house. Probably. 

Also that would explain why Naruto wouldn’t look him in the face. 

And why his ears were so red.

Sasuke let another moment of silence pass until “I’m not wearing any pants am I.”

A small sound escaped Naruto’s tightly sealed lips, but Sasuke was sure it was in the affirmative. He looked down, though, just to double check. 

“Well, it seems I’ve finally hit rock bottom for this calendar year.”

Another peep from Naruto, this time with tiny little tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

“Only can go up from here.”

Naruto sharply inhaled, bringing his fisted hand up to his mouth. His gaze was still fixed on a random corner of the room.

“Excuse me while I—“ Sasuke’s eye twitched at the utter humiliation he was currently experiencing. He slowly picked his way through the room, careful to avoid Naruto’s line of sight even though there really was no point because he’d seen it all anyway. He caught sight of his pants and paused. Well..he might as well get a pair of sweats. Which, he was pretty sure he had a pair lying around from a couple days ago.

God, he was really overdue for a nice house cleaning session.

He silently slid the pants on, swearing to himself that he will never ever take off his pants ever again forever. He learned his lesson. Who was he to think he could take such liberties in his home!?

“Okay, you can look now. Or actually. I’m just gonna g—“

But his sentence was cut off by the burst of laughter that finally made its way out of Naruto. Once he had gotten over seeing Sasuke’s lithe and bare legs with little to no mental preparation, he began to realize the complete hilarity of the situation. And ESPECIALLY once Sasuke noticed. After that, he had been fighting back the tears and finally lost the battle.

Sasuke’s mouth began to twitch into a smile though, as Naruto’s loud guffaws inspired something to well up inside from the depths of his belly. Soon enough both men were doubled over in laughter, Naruto clutching the wall for support, and Sasuke holding his stomach.

 

“I can’t believe it took you that long to notice,” Naruto wheezed. 

“I can’t believe it either,” Sasuke rasped.

Their laughter died down eventually, both wiping tears from their eyes.

“Must’ve been some week, huh?”

Sasuke snorted, feeling a little sore from the core workout. “You could say that.”

“Well, it’s nothing some good company and beer can’t fix!” Naruto finally was able to look Sasuke in the eye, though memories of his undies still crept forward in his mind. His face only got a LITTLE red, but whatever! He bound forward, grabbing two bottles from the case and popping them open with the side table.

“I’m gonna ignore your blatant disregard for my furniture only because you brought me alcohol.”

“Please, as if I don’t see the little marks from when you do it!”

Sasuke glared as he plopped down on the couch, gesturing for Naruto to do the same, though his eyes were still glazed over with mirth. “It’s different when you’re the guest.”

\--

Naruto was just finishing off his third beer and eyed the empty bottle with disdain. “Sasuke I’m all out…” 

They had filled the time with inane conversation and (un)friendly debates about the dumbest things and frankly, Naruto hadn’t enjoyed himself in another’s company this much in a long, long time. Especially knowing they were STUCK together for the next however many hours as the blizzard outside raged on. It was good knowing they could get along behind closed doors when their only other interactions were in public, at school, and/or drunk among mutual friends. 

Sasuke sniffed in response, holding up his own empty bottle. “…me too.”

They were nowhere near inebriated, as both their tolerance levels were fairly high. But just because the six pack was finished, didn’t mean they were. “You got more?” asked the blond.

Sasuke made a face in an attempt to visualize the contents of his fridge. “I do.” He got up. “But first, I’m using the bathroom.”

“You can just tell me and I can grab them while you do your business!” offered Naruto.

Sasuke paused, considering the blond’s words. “Mmmm, I’ll pass. You’ll probably break something anyway,” he replied, already on his way out of the living room.

Naruto huffed and leaned back in his seat, arms crossed and hankering for a drink. Also, how dare Sasuke insult him like that! 

Which reminded him! He brought the ceramic bowl that he completely obliterated the other week. Reaching out for the bag, he glanced inside to make sure everything was where it should’ve been. And it was.

In the background he heard a flush, and then the faucet, and footsteps, and then a fridge opening, and then suddenly Sasuke was back in his line of vision, this time brandishing more alcohol. 

“See, was it that hard to wait?” he asked, eyeing the brown bag in Naruto’s arms. “What’s that?”

“Uhhh, oh this?” Naruto said. A little more suspiciously than he intended. But how was he supposed to broach the subject? Oh, here’s that special bowl I smashed??? 

“You didn’t bring drugs into my home did you?”

Naruto spluttered. Taken aback not only by the assumption, but also by the deadpan expression gracing Sasuke’s features. “Okay first of all—no. Second of all, what?! Third of all, it’s that bowl I broke. I fixed it up and thought I might as well give it back while I’m here.”

Sasuke’s eyebrows knit together in surprise. “Oh.” Also: “Thanks.” 

He wanted to slap himself. Could that have sounded any less sincere? 

“I mean, thank you. Sorry, that came out really—I just wasn’t really expecting you to like, actually glue it back together.”

“I’m a man of my word! Also it seemed pretty special so…”

“Yeah, it is.”

Naruto smiled as Sasuke carefully removed the bowl from the bag, his face softening at whatever memories were playing through his mind. It was truly an ugly piece of work, but it was one of the few things he had left from his cousin Shisui who tragically died when he was younger in a cliff diving accident.

“Well, I’m gonna go put this somewhere safe…” Sasuke lifted the bowl and rotated it in the light, examining the repairs Naruto had made to it. There were some tiny holes where the shards were too small to glue back and he wasn’t really educated on restoring ceramics so it looked kind of awful. But Sasuke appreciated the effort either way. Now that he was going to let Naruto know. “The repair could’ve been a little cleaner, but it’ll do,” he said tersely, letting a tiny hint of a smile show through. He walked over to the kitchen and placed the bowl on top of the counter, close to the wall, and away from anything that could knock it over. 

Safe from Naruto, he thought to himself. To which he completely ignored the implication that he would be more than okay with Naruto becoming a regular houseguest of his.

Whatever.

That would be something to chew on at a later date…or never. 

\--

Across town, Mikoto Uchiha took a seat next to her husband, clutching a steaming cup of tea as she gazed outside at the freezing high winds. She sighed. “Oh, we should’ve had Sasuke over. I always miss him the most during bad weather. I hope he’s keeping warm.”

Fugaku barely contained his eye roll at his wife’s endearing dramatics. “How many blizzards must pass before you stop acting like this.”

She narrowed her eyes in (mostly) mock disgust. “He’s my BABY BOY!”

“He’s an ADULT.”

“So then what would you call Itachi then, hmm?” she gestured towards the lump of blankets taking over the loveseat across the room. A muffled nose arose from the center, growing sharper until Itachi’s head poked through, his face aglow from the phone he was holding in the cocoon.

Fugaku regarded him quietly. “If Sasuke is your baby then Itachi is your special boy.”

“Hm. I resent that, father,” was the monotone reply as Itachi smirked at whatever he was looking at on his phone. “Anyway, a friend told me that Naruto and Sasuke are having a little a sleepover.”

“Get some hobbies, son.” 

“Sasuke is my hobby.”

“Anything but that.”

Mikoto lightly slapped Fugaku on the arm. “Oh, it can’t be any worse than the Akatsuki.” She smiled over to Itachi who frowned at the mention of THAT time in his life. “Oh, I’m sorry sweetie. Also, let your friend know to pass on to Naruto that we say hello and that we hope he stays warm and that we hope we can meet him soon.”

Itachi paused in his furious tapping, “Got it.”

She smiled serenely. “Who is this friend anyway?”

An impish expression fought to make its way though, though managed to keep his face stoic and blank. “Her name’s Sakura.”

“A pretty name.”

“And you met how?”

He shrugged as best he could underneath the weight of all the blankets (he took them both from his AND Sasuke’s room) as his father pointed a Look at him.

“Mmm, a networking event.”

“The world is truly so small.” Mikoto glanced up at Fugaku. But her husband had his suspicions. He’d let them slide…for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slowly but surely getting somewhere maybe probably possibly
> 
> but ya i mean like i hope its not too obvious that i am having 2 much fun writing sasuke (or at this point its more like charasuke but wtvr i love both bbs the same) 
> 
> anyway enjoy maybe ? ~
> 
> blizzard pt 2 will be more ~steamy~ ((((as in like maybe one of them takes a shower while the other sits quietly Not Thinking about houseguest's naked body ~its a mystery~))))


	12. blizzard pt 1.25

Not that Naruto was counting, but he had never experienced a longer, more drawn out 10 minutes in his life. Even though they were having a good time, it felt weird to be sitting here, in Sasuke’s living room, wholly unsupervised. He shifted uncomfortably, having become acutely aware of the hum of the shower over the television. He turned up the volume.

Didn’t work. 

Naruto groaned in frustration, rubbing his hair furiously. What was with him? Why was this so weird for him? He’s crashed at plenty of friends’ places, with and without permission! This wasn’t like him at all! (Completely ignoring the fact that Sasuke wasn’t just ANY friend, but like…that was for another time.)

He sighed, shaking his head and hoping to rid himself of all feelings of discomfort and also praying to whatever God would help him (he wasn’t picky) that Sasuke steps out soon so that everything could go back to watching whatever trash television program they were watching like normal friends.

‘Friends,’ he thinks to himself. He suddenly imagines them going to different places around town. Sasuke’s lived here his whole life, so he knows it very intimately, and he shows Naruto all of his favorite places. Like that café they met up at to talk about school stuff. He shows him the library and the spot he always sat in during high school; the park bench where he had his first kiss; the dealership that sold him his first car and totally ripped him off. And they get to know each other better through these outings. And then one day one of these outings is actually a date. And then they end the date with a kiss and it’s magical. And then they fall in lo--

“HEY!” The sharp sound of a distant voice snapped Naruto back into focus, unaware how deep he had gone into his daydreams about his future with Sasuke. He looked up to see him, hair wet and pushed back in a headband glaring down at him with a towel around his shoulder. Why was the towel around his shoulders? He was clearly dry and fully clothed. 

“It’s cause my hair drips and I don’t feel like getting my shirt wet,” was Sasuke’s response. 

Which…Naruto didn’t recall asking that question out loud but it’s probably because he was way too distracted at SASUKE in a HEADBAND. He blinked himself to attention. “Wait, did I say that out loud? Just that?”

Sasuke, who had been half bent over to take a seat, froze and peered at him suspiciously. “Yeah…just that. Why?”

In response, Naruto mumbled something under his breath and ran his hands through his hair as casually as he could.

Whatever, Sasuke thought. He went to sit down, propping his feet up onto a cleared spot on the coffee table and sighed. He was so glad there was a snow day tomorrow because he absolutely did not feel like working.

The two men sat in silence. Was it an awkward silence? Depending on who you asked, it could go both ways.

Sasuke was busy pleading with the heavens for another blizzard on Sunday. At first, he wasn’t really excited about having all the snow (what with the shoveling and the cleaning off his car, etc) But when he thought about it, having an EXTRA extra long weekend would be so amazing. He’d get all his grading done, probably, but better yet, he wouldn’t have to change out of his sweats for four days, or go outside! Sasuke, already invested in planning his as of yet non-existent four day staycation, didn’t even realize the apartment was dead silent.

Naruto on the other hand, the guest, and alcohol buzz slowly wearing off, was getting INCREASINGLY agitated. While the two were on friendly enough terms that he felt somewhat comfortable asking for a place with central heating to crash, it was still weird as fuck. He didn’t know whether he should take Sasuke’s silence as a positive or a negative or like, a neutral indicator? What was the man even thinking about? Has he already overstayed his welco—

“Hey. Wouldn’t it be cool if it snowed on Sunday too and we got Monday off?” 

Naruto’s train of thought halted, taken aback by the seemingly random comment from Sasuke. He peered at Sasuke. “I mean…not really. Everyone will just get more behind with work and—“ He scowled. “Aren’t you already like, super behind on all your classes and lesson plans anyway!?”

If you squinted, you would be able to see Sasuke’s cheeks take on a light pink hue from the painful reality of the situation. “That’s neither here nor there. You just worry about your own shit and I’ll worry about mine!”

Naruto rolled his eyes, fighting back a smile. Really, he couldn’t believe this guy. “In case you don’t remember, I have to worry about your shit now too!” 

“It’s not like I wouldn’t be spending the weekend grading! That’s the whole point of wanting the extra day off!”

“Yeah, but I feel like, and this is just a guess here: I feel like you would spend NONE of the extra time doing work and ALL of the time lounging pantsless.”

The light tint mentioned previously darkened to a bright crimson. Sasuke couldn’t believe his ears! It was too soon! No, he could be dead and it would still be too soon.

He scowled. “That’s besides the point.”

Naruto laughed, his eyes crinkling with mirth.“That’s ENTIRELY the point.”

Taking his feet off the table, Sasuke fully turned towards Naruto, narrowing his eyes. “I could kick you out now, you ingrate.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Try me.” 

Naruto considered him for a moment, the Uchiha’s dark eyes teasing. He really wanted to test him, but now wasn’t the time. If something awkward or weird were to happen, he would be out of a place to stay during the blizzard and he REALLY didn’t want to freeze his nuts off. In due time, though. In due time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall this is litrally the worst chapter to date. im srry its lacking and boring and short. i know ur not rly supposed to post something 4 the sake of posting but this was taking me for EVER so i jsut wanted to get it out! i just got back from living elsewhere for 6mo at my dayjob and moving back + getting back to my normal officework was the worst. also i do art on the side so between that and this i think we all kno whats lowest on the totem pole. but dont fear none of this is abandoned, just a vry slow WIP. i have no idea what work life balance is obv.


End file.
